John Abraham: Got Arun Jaitley's nod to shoot in Pokhran

John Abraham and Arun Jaitley

Given that Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran deals with 1998 nuclear tests conducted by the Indian Army, one of the first objectives of John Abraham was to procure the necessary permissions to bring the real-life story to the big screen.

"As part of our research, we met people who were involved in the tests including those from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). I also had to meet Arun Jaitley, who was the defence minister then, because we needed special permissions to fly drones in Pokhran," recollects John Abraham. The actor-producer adds that they also obtained the consent of the Border Security Force.

In his bid to ensure authenticity, the unit shot portions of the film at the nuclear test site in Rajasthan. "We met a few people who were living there when the tests happened. They narrated some interesting incidents to us - like, Rajasthan ran out of onions on the day of the tests because the Army had bought them all as a precautionary measure, since onions absorb radiation. We incorporated such tidbits in our film."

Also read: John Abraham, Diana Penty go on Parmanu Pride Parade in heart of Delhi

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