After several blink-and-miss roles, Ishwak Singh created an impact with his act as an idealistic cop in Paatal Lok, following it up with an earnest performance in Unpaused. With his portrayal of Vikram Sarabhai in SonyLIV’s Rocket Boys, the actor has shown once again that he can slip into difficult roles, with ease. In a chat with mid-day, Singh talks about becoming the physicist on screen and how the show’s biggest win is its remarkable writing.

I was excited. After all, it’s not every day that you get a part where everything is up your alley. I wanted to do work that involves great writing, and the show [offers that]. Early on, I got to read a part of the script during the auditions, and I knew it was a human story. When I started reading the episodes, it seemed like a great piece of literature. It makes me aware of the world of science.

I was aware of him. I had the opportunity to [see] Mallika Sarabhai perform at Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. Vikram Sarabhai started IIM [Indian Institute of Management], he is the father of Indian space research, but it was [fascinating] to know the circumstances and the resources with which he created all this. It was inspiring to know about the anecdotes, which can easily be transformed into multiple stories. No matter how much research I did, I didn’t feel the burden of playing a character like that. 

For me, the script was the bible. That said, I also referred to his biography, Vikram Sarabhai: A Life written by Amrita Shah. I kept going back to the book to know Vikram. In the series, everything is factual and authentic, to the point that at times, I felt the script was more informative than the biography. You can’t call it fictionalising; it is more like filling in the blanks.

That’s a question for the writers. Since I got to know him through the research and script, I think all the significant aspects of his life [were portrayed]. The family was involved in the making of the story at an early stage. Some things may not have found their way into the script, but it was complete [in its own way].

If you have read Sarabhai’s [biopic], the series will be an eye-opener. This man was brilliant, highly educated, had everything at his disposal, and was a great thinker. I find no reason to not subscribe to his ideology. I didn’t require great acting skills to get into the mind of Vikram Sarabhai because I could understand where this man is coming from.

I love Jim’s work and also envied him for the kind of hustle he has been through. I have seen him make suggestions about how we could [do a scene], during the workshops. We wouldn’t necessarily agree on everything, but there was always mutual respect. It was a collaborative effort — one of the reasons why I always want to work with new-age filmmakers like Abhay Pannu.

I love Atul Sabharwal’s [director] writing. We are already doing workshops; the character is creeping inside and becoming a part of me.

Pulling off space dramas is no mean feat, given the exorbitant budget the subject demands. So, the entertainment industry was in for a surprise when Siddharth Roy Kapur and Nikkhil Advani announced their passion project, Rocket Boys. The Sony LIV series will offer a dramatised retelling of the lives of India’s brightest scientists, Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai and APJ Abdul Kalam, studying their immense contribution in the fields of nuclear physics and space research.    

Procuring necessary permissions for the story could have posed a difficulty, but Advani says the team had initiated talks with the Sarabhai and Bhabha families by late 2019. “The Sarabhai family is completely on board. The script was shared with them at an early stage. We have spoken to the family of Homi Bhabha, and they are keen to see an authentic story being made on the great scientists.”

The unit kicked off the Abhay Pannu-directed project in Jaipur last month, with Ishwak Singh of Paatal Lok fame playing Vikram Sarabhai. The late scientist’s daughter Mallika Sarabhai has graciously agreed to help them. “Mallika Sarabhai is currently on the set, choreographing the dance sequences that her mother [Mrinalini Sarabhai] performed in 1950. Her son is one of the main dancers in the act.”

Getting down to brass tacks, Advani agrees that the human drama is one of Emmay Entertainment’s most ambitious projects. However, he is confident of doing justice to the subject on “limited funds”. “We have previously pulled off Airlift [2016] on a smaller budget than expected. Big stories can be told on the right budget if the planning is [thorough]. Abhay has sent some footage to me; it is spectacular.” 

At the moment, the producer is unwilling to reveal who has stepped into the shoes of Bhabha and Kalam. Instead, all he divulges is that the story of the three great minds will have them traversing India and the UK. “It will be a gruelling 150-day schedule. The show will be shot across Mumbai, Pune, Rajasthan, Mussoorie, Cambridge and London. We will attempt the last two cities post April, when the lockdown in the UK is hopefully lifted.”