'The unique achievements have been made by engineers from small towns who have had a non elite upbringing and who have grown with the programme,' says R Aravamudan, one of the pioneers of the Indian space programme.
'Smita Patil was the reason I got into films. She kept telling me to get into films but I said I was happy doing theatre, I don't like films. Today, when I look back, I don't think I disliked films. Maybe I thought who would take me in films? I think it was a complex.' Nana Patekar looks back at his life.