Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran

Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film.The film starts with China leading the race to nuclear arms in Asia and testing many nuclear powered explosions. That creates pressure on India to follow suit. In 1995, IAS officer Ashwat (John Abraham) is part of a meeting in the Parliament House, where a bunch of ministers and bureaucrats are discussing about China's ascent in the Nucler Power ranks. They come up with ideas like boycotting sporting tournaments where China is also participating and even stopping trade with the country. Ashwat cuts in and suggests India conducts its own set of nuclear blasts. The head of the meeting Yadav ridicules Ashwat’s suggestions and he’s mocked by other bureaucrats as well. Ashwat assures them that his suggestions are the best foot forward to tackle the political tension. When Yadav asks for a report, Ashwat hands over a floppy, stating that the floppy has all the details required to conduct the nuclear tests. Frustrated with the members’ constant jibes, Ashwat steps out. Yadav seeks him out and asks him to submit a report of the nuclear tests so he can propose the idea to the Prime Minister. A few days later, Ashwat submits a brief report which Yadav takes to the PM alone and assures, he’ll get back to Ashwat in a few days.

Later, Ashwat discovers in the news that India was conducting secret tests at the Pokhran site, but the tests were shut down after American satellites captured visuals of the scientists and Indian army prepping the nuclear site. The tests were shut down after heavy political pressure from the US government with the Pakistan head of state also ridiculing India’s irresponsible behaviour. Ashwat is blamed for the entire fiasco and is fired from his IAS job. He relocates to Mussoorie with his wife (Anuja Sathe) and son. Ashwat’s wife is an astrophysicist and she works at the Mussoorie observatory, taking care of the family’s expenses. A demotivated Ashwat, conducts classes for IAS and Civil services students, mostly sulking about the past and his inability to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a celebrated war veteran of the Indian Army. In 1998, with the appointment of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as India’s PM, the PMO restarts India’s nuclear program under the leadership of the PM’s Secretary Himanshu Shukla (Boman Irani). Himanshu recruits Ashwat, having been impressed by his plans in 1995. He tasks Ashwat with assembling a new team and making a new plan for India’s secret nuclear test program. Ashwat employs India’s leading scientists, space agency operatives as well as special agent Ambalika (Diana Penty). Together, they kick-start the Pokharan tests program but their mission has to be completed in covert fashion, avoiding the constant surveillance of American satellites from space as well as their field agents in Rajasthan working with Pakistani spies in the area. The mission is top secret and even Ashwat’s family doesn’t know he’s in Pokhran.

Ashwat and his team come up with a high-concept plan where they work in the blind spots that occur when the satellites switch between the surveillance runs. They work one hour every night and have to carefully remove all traces of tracks and footsteps from the sand in the Pokhran test site, so as to not show any activity in the American satellites surveillance footage. Despite their best efforts, the American and Pakistani spies keeping a tab on the Pokhran region get wind of India’s plans for the nuclear tests. The Pakistani spy first informs Ashwat’s wife that he’s having an affair in Pokhran and he’s not in Delhi as she believes. When his wife lands up at Ashwat’s hotel room all of a sudden, he’s thrown off and has to deal with his wife’s allegations and anger. The Pakistani spy also manages to steal Ashwat’s mobile phone which has a lot of sensitive information about the Pokhran mission. He hands it to the American spy who alerts the Pentagon about it. As the US President is made aware of the plan, and an American effort is kick-started to thwart India’s nuclear program again, Ashwat and his team race to get their test facility in place and conduct the test before the Americans can stop them. At the same time, Himanshu, has to get the official ‘okay’ from PM Vajpayee, even as he’s in a meeting with top American diplomats and agents. Before the Americans and stop the program, Ashwat and his team manage to set-off three nuclear explosions at the Pokhran facility.