I had the pleasure of watching the movie directed by Alison Rose at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium, followed by Q&A with two of the stars Donald Lynden-Bell and Nick Woolf, and the director. These two along with Roger Griffin and Wallace Sargent formed a quartet of British astronomers in their mid-twenties who found themselves together at Caltech in Pasadena the 1960s as postdocs and went on to become shining astronomers, through, what Wal would call hard work. Their passion for astronomy and travel saw them do many road-trips then. Fifty years later they decided to revisit some of those places, and Star*Men is a documentation of that.
Watching it at Caltech with fellow-astronomers was special. It was good to see Donald Lynden-Bell on stage answering questions about what he would do today and what he thought of space explorations and humanity and all that. I first met him about twenty years ago at IUCAA, India when I was a graduate student myself, and he does not seem to have aged a bit. That is what is also reflected in the movie as they travel and talk about some of their thoughts about, well, the life, the universe, and everything. I had the privilege of interacting with Pandit Wal at Caltech with whom I could chat about quasars as well as cricket. While there are many great astronomers, as also other professionals in different fields, the story shows how the bond of friendship between these four and the world outside astronomy - if connected by astronomy - stayed strong for five decades. Though they do not discuss much science, I hope it conveys to the young watchers their fascination for it and perhaps helps them gravitate to it.
Star*Men (2015) (7/10)
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