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Shadow Warrior | Kantara and Rocketry: Two heroes’ journeys in a Hindu context
FirstpostKantara and Rocketry are about Hindu heroes, quite a departure from the standard Indian film — especially of the Urduwood variety— where overt Hindus are usually depicted with contempt or disgust The Hero’s Journey is a common metaphor used by storytellers from the Ramayana to the Iliad, and in innumerable modern works. Both the recent films Kantara and Rocketry: The Nambi Narayanan Effect, in my opinion, fall into this broad categorisation; but what’s notable and different is that they are about very Hindu heroes, quite a departure from the standard Indian film where overt Hindus are usually depicted with contempt or disgust. In Rocketry, the fictionalised story of the real-life Nambi Narayanan, the hero’s journey is even more evident. Even if it is a little exaggerated for rhetorical purposes, Nambi Narayanan’s efforts to convince Rolls-Royce’s head, the French Ariane rocket program, and the Soviet cryogenic labs to transfer technology and know-how to ISRO are amazing stories that I too had not heard of, even though I live in Thiruvananthapuram, where Narayanan and Abdul Kalam did their work on solid and liquid-propelled rockets.
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