Climaxes at the right time...
On a scorching May afternoon, an American spy calls home from a Jaisalmer café and tells his bosses there’s something going on in Pokhran. They thank him for his concern, but say they have eyes in the sky — the state-ofthe-art Lacrosse satellites America uses for surveillance — and no activity has been reported.
India’s nuclear test comes soon after. It is one of the biggest intelligence failures in the history of the CIA.
That was in 1998. But it hadn’t been India’s first step forward. Three years earlier, detection by the West had forced the government to abandon its plan for a nuclear test, under severe diplomatic pressure.
Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran begins here, with the Research and Development Ministry’s Ashwat Raina (John Abraham) still heartbroken over the rollback. Now, life has come full circle and he’s been called back by the PMO to discuss the relaunch of the programme.
The actors are clearly a bit out of their depth, particularly at the start, as they try to adjust to roles with no melodrama, no long pauses. As they try to look intelligent while spouting data on satellites, code words and blast sites.
One step at a time, though, the characters begin to fit together. And the story of how the world’s most efficient surveillance system was duped makes for quite a riveting tale.
Director Abhishek
Sharma shows restraint and takes his time to lay the groundwork. You know the outcome, but there’s still enough suspense built up to keep you hooked — mainly through a canny use of subplots. There is some dark humour too, and an emotionally charged scene between Abraham and Anuja Sathe, his wife in the film, is surprisingly effective.
Abraham will never be subtle or emotive, but he does hold his ground. Sharma uses real footage judiciously, to take focus away from uncertain actors and break the monotony of shooting at a single location. It’s the writing, really, that saves the day.
The first half will feel a bit slow, but things hot up sufficiently. At 129 minutes, expect to be reasonably entertained.