From 'Yeh dil maange more' to 'Gravity', all in Narendra Modi's speech

SRIHARIKOTA: From the famous catch phrase 'Yeh dil maange more' to epic science fiction thriller "Gravity" were some of the ingredients in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech today saluting Indian space scientists.

"We have done a lot. We provide benefits of telemedicine to Afghanistan and African countries but Yeh dil maange more (the heart wants more).

I have proposed to our scientists that they develop a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) satellite. This will help all our neighbours," he said in a speech shortly after the country's indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off today from a spaceport here carrying five foreign satellites.

Modi previously used the "Yeh dil maange more" tagline while campaigning in Palampur, the Himachal Pradesh hometown of Kargil martyr Vikram Batra, during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

He borrowed the martyr's famous catch-phrase to ask for votes: "Yeh dil maange more!" but it generated a controversy with Batra's family objecting to it.

Capt Batra immortalised the words "Yeh dil maange more," the catch-line from an ad campaign.

In his congratulatory speech, Modi also hailed India's low-cost space technology, and made a reference to "Gravity", a 2013 British-American 3D epic science fiction thriller film.

"I have heard that the Hollywood movie Gravity cost more than our Mars mission - this is a great achievement," he said, adding," Our scientists have shown the world, a new paradigm of Frugal Engineering, and the power of Imagination. Friends, this success of ours has deep historical roots."

The budget of the film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney was reported to be about 100 million $.

Last year, India launched a bid to become the first Asian nation to reach Mars with a mission.

The total cost of 73 million $ for the Mars mission was less than a sixth of the 455 million $ earmarked for a Mars probe launched shortly afterwards by US space agency NASA.

India's Mars rocket or Mangalyaan is expected to reach the red planet on September 24.