Cannes 2022: Madhavan says Aryabhatta, Sundar Pichai have bigger fans than stars

R Madhavan was speaking at a panel discussion at the India Forum in Cannes. (Image credit: @actormaddy/Instagram)

R Madhavan on Thursday said Indian cinema has largely neglected extraordinary stories from science and technology field and its many pioneers, whose followers eclipse the number of fans that movie stars have in the country.

Madhavan, whose directorial debut Rocketry: The Nambi Effect is set to have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market on Thursday, said these pioneers are the people that youngsters look up to.

"From Aryabhatta to Sundar Pichai, we have such extraordinary stories as far as science and technology is concerned," R Madhavan said. "We are not making movies about these people. These people are the aspirations for the youngsters around the world. They have bigger fans than stars and actors put together."

He added, "You have these guys from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that I've met who started this new Metaverse, who are into web 3.0… We're not making movies about such success stories."

Madhavan was speaking at a panel discussion at the India Forum in Cannes, where he was joined by Union minister Anurag Thakur, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, lyricist and CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi and American journalist Scott Roxborough.

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The actor said that India has a rich history of "great traditions and culture that has been exemplary to the world over".

"But there's one aspect of India that is so aspirational today, that we as filmmakers or people talking about India, are completely ignoring and that is the excellence in science and technology," he added.

The 51-year-old actor-director gave the example of Hollywood filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who is known for his time-bending and often mind-bending movies like The Prestige, Inception and Interstellar.

"When Christopher Nolan makes a film called Inception or Interstellar, the reviewers go there afraid that they hope they get what he's trying to say because they don't want to give the review and sound like an idiot. Because they didn't get it as they know that it's a scientist who's making a movie. That's how qualified he is," R Madhavan said.

"I still haven't understood Inception till now but I have all the respect for the guy because he has that much knowledge about science. And he's absolutely unconcerned about the fact that the audience may or may not get it," he added.