Producer Ahmed Khan's Om: The Battle Within and Director R Madhavan's Rocketry share a strange kinship.
Not only are both films releasing on July 1, they have an uncanny thematic similarity.
In both, a space scientist is wrongly accused of espionage and anti-national activities.
The disgraced scientist in Om: The Battle Within is played by Jackie Shroff.
In Rocketry, Madhavan portrays Dr S Nambi Narayanan, the Indian Space Research Organisation scientist who was accused of espionage in 1994.
"There was no way we were going to release our film on the OTT platform. Pandemic or no," Madhavan tells Subhash K Jha.
"Of course I've the highest regard for the digital space. In 2020 my film Maara was released on Amazon Prime Video and it reached out to amazing numbers," he adds.
"However the big screen is the big screen. It cannot be substituted by the OTT platform."
Madhavan has designed Rocketry as a big-screen experience.
"It's a story that I've nurtured for ten years. "I am pleased to say the film has turned out almost exactly as I had envisaged it," says the actor who makes his directorial debut with the film.
Producer Ahmed Khan too says his film Om: The Battle Within is a big-screen experience.
"We couldn't see the action sequences as a home-viewing experience," says Ahmed. "Some experiences are meant only for the big screen."
"Although I've not directed Om, the very talented Kapil Verma has," adds Ahmed, "Om is as dear to me as any of my own directorials."
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
