R Madhavan's painfully long transformation for 'Rocketry - The Nambi Effect'

Mumbai: Actor R Madhavan says getting the look of scientist and aerospace engineer S Nambi Narayanan for "Rocketry - The Nambi Effect" was a "painfully long" process.

"The process took painfully long...about 2 days of sitting on a chair for 14 hours at a stretch," Madhavan said in a statement. "Initially it looked easy but later I realised how tough it was on the body," he added. 

The actor says getting the look right is "definitely half the battle won". 

"But the other half was really really tough because the age group I'm playing is around 70-75. Mr. Nambi is a very good-looking man and he has got his own charm and charisma so it took me around two-and-a-half years to actually imbibe him and learn how to walk like him.It wasn't easy and it's probably one of the toughest looks and characters I've had to pull off".

The film is based on the life of the scientist. As a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Narayanan was in-charge of the cryogenics division. In 1994, he was charged with espionage and arrested. The charges against him were dismissed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1996 and the Supreme Court declared him not guilty in 1998.

Madhavan has got the look right, and the actor says the biggest encouragement came from Narayanan himself. 

"Nambi sir couldn't stop laughing and getting amused by my look. There are so many pictures on the set that it looks almost eeriely how similar we both look."

The film is slated for a release later this year.