‘Wish Atalji could watch Parmanu’
With Parmanu, actorproducer John Abraham has surely delivered one of the biggest hits of 2018 and received an immense amount of praise. But topping his list of happy things at the moment is a “special call” from former Union Home Minister and veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on June 19.
A thrilled John tells us, “For me, it’s a huge honour. Advaniji called me after watching Parmanu. He spoke very kindly, and said, ‘This film has brought tears to my eyes. I wish Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) could watch the film, because it’s so special and he’d have been so proud of it.’”
Advani was the Home Minister in the BJP-led Central government (1998 to 2004), during which time India conducted nuclear tests (on May 11, 1998) in Pokhran. Vajpayee was the Prime Minister then. John’s film, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran is based on those nuclear tests. Without naming Vajpayee, the film directed by Abhishek Sharma has multiple references to the ex-PM. (Vajpayee has been very unwell for a while now.)
“When a person who belongs to that era validates [the film] and says, ‘You’ve shown our story exactly the way it happened’, it gives me a great feeling. What more can you want? This is absolutely unbelievable,” says John, adding, “His daughter (Pratibha Advani) also told me, ‘You know, I’ve watched this film thrice and it has brought me to tears every time.’”
Parmanu is also set to become John’s biggest non-franchise and lead-role grosser, as it readies to overtake the box-office earnings of Shootout At Wadala (2013). “For me, something like this (a call from Advani) gives me a sense of validation. A film may make ₹200-300 crore, but I feel that no amount of money can buy the kind of respect that we’ve got with Parmanu,” he says.