EXCLUSIVE! Hrithik Roshan to star in ‘Rocket Boys’ director Abhay Pannu’s next project?

Filmmaker Abhay Pannu made his directorial debut with SonyLIV’s web series ‘Rocket Boys,’ starring Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh. The young director gained widespread acclaim and recognition because of the series which brought to life the extraordinary lives and works of Dr. Homi Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the visionary scientists who spearheaded India's nuclear and space programs.

Now, Mathrubhumi English has learned that Pannu is working on a new project which is said to be headlined by Bollywood star, Hrithik Roshan. Lyricist-writer Kausar Munir, who was on board for ‘Rocket Boys’ as the dialogue writer, spoke to Mathrubhumi about her experience of working with Pannu on the series. “It was fabulous working with him (Pannu), and I’m waiting to work with him again. I think his next is with Hrithik Roshan,” claimed Munir, however, she didn’t reveal any details about Pannu’s next - whether it is a film or a series.

Further about the series, Munir talked about the difficulty she faced in writing dialogues for the biographical series. “‘Rocket Boys’ was a very tough one for me, and also very exciting because imagine people like Dr Homie Bhabha, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, CV Raman, and even Einstein. It was daunting for me to write their dialogues but I did my research in a way that I read whatever of their speeches and interviews were available. I took the vocabulary from the interviews and their thought process from the speeches,” said Munir, who is also known for penning the lyrics of the 2021 film ‘83’s song, ‘Lehera Do.’

‘Rocket Boys’, backed by Nikkhil Advani’s Emmay Entertainment, also starred Regina Cassandra, Saba Azad, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Rajit Kapur, and Namit Das, among others. The series, which was released in two parts - February 2022 and March 2023, has an 8.9 rating on IMDb. It also bagged multiple Filmfare OTT Awards including Best Actor (Critics Drama) for Sarbh, and Best Director and Best Series for Pannu.