Bollywood’s always on the lookout for a hit formula — and this time it’s the snazzy world of sci-fi flicks. One can trace the roots of this interest to the recent success spree with films like Avatar, Robot and the most recent Piranha.
Now we can look forward to Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One, where he plays a Miami software engineer, whose video-game hero takes on a techno-monster, Krissh II will complete actor Hrithik Roshan’s superhero trilogy, and filmmaker Sanjay Puransingh Chauhan, steps away from the political theme of his last film Lahore to do a sci-fi next.
Explains trade analyst Komal Nahata, “Science fiction may be a relatively new genre as far as the Indian audience is concerned, but film-makers here have begun to realise that if Hollywood sci-fi films are raking in the moolah in India too, then why should they be left out?”
But can an Indian film-maker do justice to the genre? “After Robot, I have no doubt that Bollywood can match up to the technological aspects of a sci-fi film. Unfortunately, the genre is more than just computer graphics, so it has to be backed by a good storyline. Once the film-makers get that right, nothing can stop them,” says Komal, who adds that sci-fi is still a risky bet in Bollywood as it involves heavy investments.
Filmmaker Sanjay seconds it saying, “The background of the film is sci-fi, but the story is essentially about people. I don't want it to be spoken about for special effects, but for the emotions.”
Trade analyst Amod Mehra however has a slightly different take.
“The interest in this genre is definitely not a new thing. Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish were always there. Ra.One was also announced long back. One has to understand that with the multiplex culture catching on, a film-maker can either make a comedy or a love story and if it is action, it has to be larger than life. Just showing a goonda and a cop is predictable and boring. So when one attempts to show something big, science and technology inevitably comes into the picture. Some go for special effects, others for super-heroes,” explains Amod.
He also reiterates Komal's statement that only special effects cannot hold a film together. “It all depends on the story. Action Replayy (Aishwarya Rai-Akshay Kumar starrer) was a bad example. It was stupidly done. There was no logic in the functioning of the time machine and many other aspects. That doesn't interest the audience,” informs Amod.
