Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Here's why no actor was cast to play the former PM in John Abraham's Parmanu

The movie Parmanu – The Story of Pokhran, starring John Abraham, is primarily based on the historic nuclear tests carried out by India in 1998. The former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had an enormous role in establishing India as a nuclear power. The filmmakers, however, did not cast an actor to play the leader in Parmanu. 

The makers of Parmanu had incorporated some real-life footage of Vajpayee's speeches and portrayed the situations in a way that did not need to show Vajpayee's character.

Now after the demise of Vajpayee, director Abhishek Sharma revealed that he and John had decided not to cast anyone playing the character of the former PM.

"We had to use his presence cleverly in the film. He's almost like the sutradhar (narrator) of the story. John and I had discussed that no one could be cast to play him. Thankfully, we managed to get his real speeches and visuals and intersperse them into the film. Parmanu is our dedication to his work for the betterment of our nation. I am so glad we could salute his contribution to making the nation a nuclear state with our film," Varma told The Times of India.

"He may not have been in active politics for years now but he will remain immortal through his speeches and poetries. With Parmanu, we had hoped that millennials, who don't know this leader, get to know him. Some of my millennial assistants were thrilled to know that a leader like him exists in India. His speeches were not divisive; they spoke of a vision which even the opposition leaders paid heed to," the film-maker added.

Making India a nuclear nation is still one of the biggest achievements of the NDA government. The film received immense love and it showed in the box office collection as well.