Exclusive: Dibyendu Bhattacharya reacts to controversy surrounding his Rocket Boys character Raza Mehdi

SonyLIV’s Rocket Boys has been receiving rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The web-series, which has been written and directed by Abhay Pannu, seeks to recreate the life and times of the legendary scientists Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, who have been portrayed by Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh respectively.

Dibyendu Bhattacharya has also gained attention for his portrayal of a fictional scientist named Raza Mehdi, who serves as the antagonist by working against the nation's nascent space programme.

In a chat with Cinestaan.com, Bhattacharya said that he was happy with the response to the show. “Some very good people are associated with it,” he said.

Rocket Boys review: Delightful celebration of Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai and modern Indian science

“Abhay Pannu is a collaborative director. It was enjoyable to work with him. I would like to praise [producers] Nikkhil Advani and Siddharth Roy Kapur because it takes guts to mount a show of such nature. It is one of the best shows in the world right now and it has come from India.”

The actor added that although his character is fictional, a section of the audience believes it is based on a real person. “People have started believing that there actually existed a scientist named Raza Mehdi. A friend told me that a lot of people are googling the character’s name,” said the actor. 

But at the same time, a few journalists and intellectuals have raised concerns about the fact that the character is a Muslim, which allegedly shows the community in a bad light. Reacting to this, Bhattacharya said, “As an actor and an artiste, our job is to perform. It is to add life to the given material. Nothing else is in our domain.” 

He elaborated, “Once an art form enters the public domain, a person is allowed and eligible to say anything about it. There is freedom of expression. Everything is for the audience [to decide]. It is already gone towards the public. These questions about why a person was shown this way or in that light is the prerogative of the director, producers and the writer.” 

The artiste will next be seen in the second season of Undekhi on SonyLIV from 4 March.