John Abraham fans, brace yourselves. The actor-producer’s Parmanu, the story of the five nuclear bomb tests conducted by the Indian Army at its Pokhran Test Range in May 1998, has finally got a release date. It is May 4. This comes after a day of acrimonious and contentious charges and counter charges leveled against one another in the media by John and KriArj Entertainment, both co-producers of Parmanu, on why the film has been interminably delayed since its initial release date of December last year. Now, John is determinedly going ahead solo with the launch of the film after disagreeing with KriArj over several issues.
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Reports from people who have had secret previews are that Parmanu simply has to be seen. It cannot be kept confidential like the nuclear tests themselves that were carried out under the regime of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by that indefatigable scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The Pokhran tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of nations including the US and Japan. But back home, it swelled the hearts of every Indian who rejoiced that India had joined the world’s nuclear superpowers.
Parmanu also stars the lovely Diana Penty and the acerbic Boman Irani in pivotal roles. Most of the film was shot at the absolute Ground Zero at Pokhran in Rajasthan where the actual nuclear tests were conducted. John, while talking to the media earlier, had commented that Parmanu is an entertaining film. “It is not political nor are we trying to show anything which is overtly political. It is a very entertaining film but a true story which happened in India,” the actor and producer had said. John added, “Today if we can talk about India Shining, it is because the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was a visionary. Through Parmanu we want to give credit to our Army personnel and the scientists who are responsible for the superpower that India is today.”