I haven't seen film in 50 years: Kalam

President, also father of India's nuclear missile programme, says he is literally wedded to his scientific research.

President Abdul Kalam says he has not seen a movie for 50 years because he spends so much time reading scientific literature, a report said on Monday.

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"You won't believe it but it's true," Kalam, 74, told Radio Kashmir in a weekend visit to Jammu & Kashmir, The Hindu newspaper reported.

Kalam, father of India's nuclear missile programme who was named president in 2002, said he had not watched a movie in the past 50 years because he was literally wedded to his scientific research.

Kalam was nicknamed "missile man" for leading the scientific team who developed missiles to deliver India's atomic warheads.

The bachelor teetotaller, son of an illiterate boatman, is a staunch advocate of home grown technology as a cure for many of India's problems.