Parmanu Review

Parmanu is John Abraham’s latest flick based on the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. Does it manage to thrill & entertain? Read our review to find out

The movie starts off in the year 1995. Aswath Raina(John Abraham) an IAS officer, proposes nuclear tests to check the growing threat of a nuclear attack by Pakistan & or China. A cabinet minister steals his idea & presents it to the PM. But the central govt. does a half assed job & is caught trying to conduct nuclear tests by the US. This earns heavy rebuke from the American President. Aswath ends up getting suspended. He decided not to contest his suspension . Dejected, he moves to Mussorrie with his loving wife & son.

Three years later A.B Vajpayee is sown in as the PM. His principal secretary Mr.Shukla(Boman Irani) asks Aswath to get working on conducting nuclear tests again. This time Aswath is put in charge & sets up a team of qualified individuals – Pandavs from varied backgrounds. While we all now that the tests indeed did happen right at the start of the movie, we know little about how hard our men strived to make it happen. As the movie shows, that conducting a covert operation hoodwinking Uncle Sam is not easy. The team faces resistance in the form of ISI & CIA spies.

Diana Penty as Nakul/Ambalika is good. Boman Irani makes acting look effortless. He is there only in 4-5 scenes, but makes his presence felt. The supporting cast which includes some known faces are decent. The scene where the ISA scientist opens his bag at the site & removes a banana chips plastic packet wrapped in rubber band had us in splits. Anuja Sathe makes an impact as the protagonist’s wife. The two enemy spies are good.

But it is John Abraham, who is there in almost every frame & shoulders the film. He is superb in his role as the patriotic ex-IAS officer. You will not doubt for a second that John is Aswath. You can’t imagine anyone else pulling this role off, once you have seen him. His acting has tremendously improved over the years. He will definitely win a few awards for his performance.

But the real hero of the film is the script. Director Abhishek Sharma & his team of writers have done a fab job in keeping the script tight. Abhishek Sharma ensures that you are on the edge of your seats. The movie keeps you engrossed throughout. You exult at the team’s victories & sulk when the going gets tough. Be ready to get goosebumps towards the end of the movie.

The movie has been made keeping the multiplex audiences in mind & has done well in urban centres. The scenes are realistic. That explains why the hero does bash up the enemy spy single handedly. Lack of a hit song will affect the movie. Barring one song, rest of the songs are forgettable Single screens are unlikely to take to the movie in a big way.

Do watch this movie in a theatre near you & encourage such kinds of films to be made in Bollywood

Our Rating: (4 / 5)

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