Our Mars mission cost less than movie 'Gravity': Modi

The Indian space programmes are most cost effective and the cost incurred for the Mars mission was less than the money invested to make the Hollywood movie "Gravity", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here Monday.

"Even today, our programme stands out as the most cost effective in the world," said Modi after the successful launch of a rocket that carried five foreign satellites to space.

"The story of our Mars mission costing less than the Hollywood movie 'Gravity' had gone viral on social media recently. Our scientists have shown the world, a new paradigm of frugal engineering and the power of imagination," said the prime minister.

"Gravity" is a 2013 British-American 3D epic science fiction thriller film. It was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts involved in the mid-orbit destruction of a space shuttle and their attempt to return to the Earth.

The budget of the movie was $100 million.