Mumbai, May 19 (IANS): Bollywood actor R Madhavan whose directorial debut 'Rocketry: The Nambi Effect' is going to have its world premiere at the Cannes on Thursday, spoke about the extraordinary stories of great men in the field of science and technology that have been somewhere missed out in Indian cinema.

While sharing his perspective at the panel discussion at the India Forum in Cannes, he said: "From Aryabhatta to Sundar Pichai, we have such extraordinary stories as far as science and technology is concerned. We're not making movies about them, they're an inspiration for youngsters around the world. They've bigger fans than these stars and actors."

The actor was joined by Union minister Anurag Thakur, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, lyricist and CBFC chairman Prasoon Joshi and American journalist Scott Roxborough.

The actor also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of New India and said: 'When the Prime Minister of India, when he started his term, he introduced micro-economy and digital currency. There was a furore around the world, around the economic community that said 'This is not going to work. This is a disaster'.''

When asked how are you going to get the farmers and the uneducated people in the small villages to handle a smartphone, he said, "In a couple of years the whole story changed and India became one of the largest users of micro-economy in the world and you know why it happened? It's because the farmers did not need to be educated to use a phone to know if they have got their money, and to whom they have sent their money. This is New India."