"It was most gracious of Shah Rukh to agree to do a guest appearance," R Madhavan tells Subhash K Jha, referring to his dream film Rocketry.
Shah Rukh Khan has been roped in to play a television journalist in the S Nambi Narayanan biopic. Dr S Nambi Narayanan, a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, was accused of spying for a foreign power and was later absolved of every charge by the courts.
"That he wanted to be part of this project and that too at a time when he was not signing any new films is a great honour for us," Madhavan adds. "And what a boost it would give to our endeavour to take the story of Nambi Sir to every corner of the world!"
Not only will the audience come to see Nambi Sir and me, Shah Rukh's fans will be interested in Rocketry, as this is his first screen appearance in almost four years," Madhavan adds. "Incidentally, Shah Rukh and I both started on television at around the same time."
The entire story of Nambi Narayanan unfolds through his conversation with the journalist, played by Shah Rukh Khan.
"Nambi Narayanan could build a rocket. I've learnt to construct a rocket from scratch. We are determined to do justice to the extraordinary life of Nambi Narayanan. He is one of the many unsung heroes of our country who deserves to be anointed with a worthy film," Madhavan says.
"We are going into every aspect of Nambi Narayanan's life without apology. There's really no point in doing a bio-pic unless the complete truth is told," he says.
Rocketry releases on July 1.