R Madhavan lands in soup after his comment that India used Hindu calendar to launch rocket to Mars

Actor R Madhavan has now landed in controversy for his recent comments about the India's Mars mission. The actor, who made his directorial debut with the film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) used the Hindu calendar to launch the PSLV C-25 rocket to Mars successfully. 

The actor was promoting the film when he made the comments. The film premiered at the 75th Cannes Films Festival in May. Madhavan commented in Tamil, which was later translated by musician T M Krishna. According to NDTV, 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). He further commented that the Hindu calendar has celestial map with all information on various planets, the gravitational pull of planets, the deflection of Sun's flares, etc. "Everything was calculated perfectly thousands of years ago and hence the launch was calculated using this information in the calendar," his tweet reads. The musician said that ISRO should consider the 'Mars Panchangam!' 

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This led to several debates on Twitter with many expressing their disappointment over his comments. One of the users tweeted, "Such a disappointment to see the man, who was once a poster boy of Tamil romantic movies turn into a WhatsApp uncle." Another commented, "The Mangalyan mission was an achievement by ISRO and not a comedy done."

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is a film based on the former ISRO scientist and aerospace engineer Nambi Narayanan, who was falsely accused of espionage. The trailer of the film was screened at Expo 2022 Dubai and it received positive responses from the audience. According to NDTV, Nambi Narayanan said about the project with Madhavan, "I wanted someone who understood what it means to be an engineer. Since Madhavan is an engineer himself, it made telling him my story that much easier."

The film, which also stars Shah Rukh Khan and Suriya, is scheduled for a release on July 1, 2022.