Rocketry promotion: R Madhavan gets mocked after claiming ISRO used Hindu calender 'panchang' for Mars mission

NEW DELHI: Actor R Madhavan, who made his directorial debut with the film 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect', has been drawing flak after claiming that 'panchang',  a Hindu calendar, helped ISRO to successfully launch a rocket into space. He was speaking about the ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission during a promotional event for his upcoming film 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect'. 

The actor made the comments while promoting his directorial debut which was recently screened at the 75th Cannes Films Festival in May. He made the comments in Tamil which was translated by musician T M Krishna. The actor said, "Indian rockets did not have 3 engines (solid, liquid, and cryogenic) which help western rockets propel themselves into the Martian orbit. Since India lacked, they used the information in the 'Panchangam' (Hindu Calendar).

"It has the celestial map with all information on the various planets, their gravitation pulls, sun's flares deflection etc, all calculated perfectly 1000s of years ago and hence the micro-second [of] the launch was calculated using this Panchangam info," Madhavan further said as per Krishna’s translation.

As expected, social media users noticed his statement and attempted to school him. There were some who took a dig at the actor over his latest claims. 

Disappointed that @isro has not published this vital information on their website https://t.co/LgCkFEsZNQ
Time to also consider a Mars Panchangam! https://t.co/VsD0xmswR9 — T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) June 23, 2022

Madhavan, best known for films such as 'Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein', '3 Idiots', 'Tanu Weds Manu' and 'Vikram Vedha', said he is proud and satisfied of his first film 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect' as a director.

He has written, produced and acted in 'Rocketry', a biopic on Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian Space Research Organisation, who was falsely accused of espionage. The film's trailer was recently showcased at Expo 2022 Dubai where it received a positive response from the audience. 

The ISRO's Mangalyan mission was India's first interplanetary mission. ISRO's K Sivan said the Mangalyan mission was initially meant for only 6 months. India became the first country to reach the Martian orbit in the first attempt in 2014.

"I started the film at the end of 2016 and it will be released in 2022. It has taken six years. Not just my role but I am satisfied with the way the film has turned out compared to the script we had written. So, it is as close to the script as possible. That is our victory," he was quoted by PTI. 

Releasing on July 1 in theatres worldwide, Madhavan said the film will have a substantial release in terms of screen count. 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect' was shot simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil, and English and will be dubbed in Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.

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