R Madhavan's Rocketry: The Nambi Effect released in the theaters on Friday. Written and directed by Madhavan, the film had a dull start at the domestic box office, collecting around Rs 65 lakh on day one of release. According to a Box Office India report, Rocketry has performed better in the Hindi belt than major films like Valimai, Beast and Vikram. Based on the life of rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan, the film was shot simultaneously in three languages-Tamil, Hindi and English. It features extended cameos from Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya, in the Hindi and Tamil versions, respectively. Ahead of the film's release, film producer and trade analyst, Girish Johar suggested that the Madhavan film is “bending towards a niche audience” and is not a “hardcore commercial film”. “The buzz is quite good and positive, specifically down south. Rocketry is going to get a good start at the box office. The film has been receiving a lot of accolades from the international arena as well, so that is looking positive. For the Hindi belt, it will be more reliant on word of mouth and it should be decent to start with,” Johar told indianexpress.com. The Indian Express' Shubhra Gupta gave the movie a 2.5-star rating. In her review, she wrote, "R Madhavan makes you believe in the character, but the writing is stodgy, and the direction doesn’t quite make up for it."
