Jim Sarbh on how Dr Homi Bhabha is different in Rocket Boys 2 and who matter more- critics or audience | Exclusive

Biographical drama Rocket Boys is set to return with its second and final season. The show, which traces the lives and accomplishments of eminent scientists Dr Homi Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai, was a runaway success when the first season was released last year. On the eve of season 2’s release, actor Jim Sarbh – who plays Bhabha – talks about reprising the role and reaction to season 1.

Rocket Boys 2 takes off right where the first season ended but Homi J Bhabha has changed, asserts Jim. He explains, “This may seem obvious but he is older, and that means he is mature. His passions are still there but they have been tempered by the realities of life. I think he understands weakness and loss better. Things that used to sting don’t sting anymore. He is not a different person, not in the slightest. He always wanted to live life with passion and squeeze the juice out of life by living it with more intensity.”

Much of the second season was shot alongside the first with the cast and crew required to return for only a few scenes and sequences. Talking about how it felt reprising the role, Jim says, “For the bits where we came back as we had to shoot the remaining 20%, some patchwork and all. I find it like finding the groove and putting the needle in the groove and hoping that the record was still playing. The impression is still there. You aren’t finding something new. But when the script is good and you do workshops, then it’s very easy to just slip into it.”

Jim says that when he signed on to do Rocket Boys, he was aware he was becoming a part of ‘something special’ but he never anticipated how successful the show would eventually become. “I don’t think any subject is immune from great storytelling. Any subject can be the backdrop for a great story. In this particular case, right from the scripting level, I was so excited to read what happened to these two men and the friendship they carried on for so long, along with the political, scientific, and the personal ambitions. There was never a doubt that the show was exciting. While we worked on it, we knew we were working on something special but I can’t say we could anticipate how it would be received because that’s impossible,” he says.

Rocket Boys has been one of the few shows that has been appreciated by both critics and audiences. So whose approval gives Jim a bigger high? “Both are nice in different ways,” responds the actor, adding, “What a story wants more than anything else is to be heard by the most possible people than critics thinking it’s amazing and nobody watches it. At the end of the day, you want people to watch it.”

The second season of Rocket Boys streams on Sony Liv on March 16. The show also stars Ishwak Singh, Regina Cassandra, Saba Azad, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya.