Science fiction films in India

The genre of science fiction has been prevalent in the Indian film industry since the second half of the 20th century. Beginning in 1952, the Tamil film Kaadu was made, which was a Indian-American co-production.[1] The 1963 Tamil film Kalai Arasi and 1967 Hindi film Chand Par Chadayee also have science fiction in its storyline.[2] The Alien was a science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. The film was being directed by Bengali Indian director Satyajit Ray and produced by Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures. The script was written by Ray in 1967, based on "Bankubabur Bandhu", a Bengali story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh, the Ray family magazine. In 2018, two films Antariksham 9000 KMPH (Telugu) andTik Tik Tik (Tamil) beacame the first-ever Indian films that are based mostly in space.

In 1987, the superhero film Mr. India was a huge success which strengthened the hold of sci-fi films in India, especially Bollywood. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.[3] Mr. India brought the idea of science fiction to the general people in India.[1] The 1991 Telugu time-travel heist film Aditya 369 was one of the highest grossing South Indian films at the time.[4] In 2003, the blockbuster film Koi... Mil Gaya marked the beginning of the successful Krrish film series, which is the first sci-fi/superhero film series in Indian cinema.[5] The 2018 Tamil film 2.0 starring Rajinikanth and Amy Jackson is one of the most expensive and the most successful sci/fi film ever produced in India.

List of films

The following list contains the names of the Indian science fiction films released since 1952. Early 21st century has seen the release of more than 30 such films, compared to the previous 14, there is less info about it now they Indian film classics.

Space Opera films

The following list contains films based on space opera science fiction

Title Year Language Description
Kalai Arasi[6][7] 1963 Tamil Kalai Arasi is a well-blended story of romance, science fiction, action and drama with the main cast of M. G. Ramachandran and Bhanumathi playing double roles. The film was the first in Indian cinema to illustrate a story which describes aliens, alien abduction, alien weapons, space travel and futuristic technology.[6]
Chand Par Chadayee 1967 Hindi The film stars Dara Singh, Helen. After landing on the moon, an astronaut and his associate face off against a variety of warriors and monsters from another planet.
Tik Tik Tik[8] 2018 Tamil Tik Tik Tik is written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. It features Jayam Ravi, Aaron Aziz, and Nivetha Pethuraj in the lead roles. Film is based in space.
Antariksham 9000 KMPH[9] 2018 Telugu Directed by Sankalp Reddy starring Varun Tej, Aditi Rao Hydari and Lavanya Tripathi.

Received praise for the Visual effects. Film is based in space.

Mission Mangal 2019 Hindi Based on India's MOM mission
Cargo 2019 Hindi Science Fiction Film

Others

Title Year Language Description
Kaadu (The Jungle) 1952 Tamil
English
A Tamil-American co-production, this film was about an expedition to find the cause of strange behaviour of animals in an area. As it turned out, the reason of this abnormal behavior was an invasion of wooly mammoths.[10][11] This film was the first science fiction film in India.
Shikari 1963 Hindi Shikari, directed by Mohammed Hussain, starring Ajit Khan and K N Singh as 'Dr. Cyclops' a mad scientist experimenting on humans and gorillas.
Mr.X In Bombay 1964 Hindi Mr. X in Bombay, directed by Shantilal Soni, is a 1964 Bollywood classic film starring Kishore Kumar, Kum Kum, and Madan Puri.
The Alien 1965 Bengali
English
A science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. It was based on a short story named Bankubabur Bandhu ("Banku Babu's Friend") by Satyajit Ray and was about an extraterrestrial by the name of "Mr. Ang" who befriends a Bengali boy while visiting a village in the 1960s.
Karutha Rathrikal 1967 Malayalam Film starring Madhu, Gemini Ganesan, S. P. Pillai in lead roles and directed by Mahesh. The music director is MS Baburaj and lyrics are by ONV Kurup. It is a film involving a doctor played by Madhu who takes revenge for his uncle's death by using a medicine he invents. This medicine creates split personality. This movie was inspired by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a novel written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. It is supposed to be the first Malayalam science fiction film.
Elaan 1971 Hindi Starring Vinod Mehra, Rekha and Vinod Khanna. Naresh Kumar Saxena lives with his widowed mom and sister, Seema. He works as a freelance photographer and journalist. One day he meets with Mala Mehta and her dad, who is the Editor of a Newspaper. Mr. Mehta hires Naresh and assigns him to go to a remote island to investigate and expose some illegal activities there. Naresh goes there in the company of his friend, Shyam. Unfortunately, Naresh is caught by the island guards and lodged in a cell along with two others, one a scientist and Ram Singh, a hoodlum. The scientist confides in Naresh that he has invented an atomic ring that when inserted in someone's mouth will turn that person invisible, and subsequently passes away. Naresh puts the ring in his mouth, takes off his clothes, turns invisible and escapes. The news of his escape creates waves in the underworld and the Boss and Mr. Verma join forces to find Naresh, kill him, and keep the ring for themselves. Naresh and Shyam must now find ways to stay alive as well as take the ring to the authorities - that is if the Boss and Mr. Verma let them live long enough.
Ulagam Sutrum Valiban 1973 Tamil Starring M. G. Ramachandran Ulagam Sutrum Valiban (English: Globetrotting Youngster) is a 1973 science-fiction action film directed by M. G. Ramachandran.
Vikram 1983 Tamil Starring Kamal Haasan and produced by himself. It is a Science fiction, action and adventure film, which revolves around the ICBM, advanced computers and security systems, which were near future projects of Indian government. It was also the first film in India to feature most advanced weapons of those times.
Shiva Ka Insaaf 1985 Hindi Superhero film directed by Raj N. Sippy, starring Jackie Shroff, Poonam Dhillon, and Gulshan Grover.
Jaithra Yaathra 1987 Malayalam Starring Nizhalgal Ravi, Thilakan, Babu Antony in lead roles and directed by Sasi Kumar. The music director is Shyam and lyrics are by Poovachal Khader. It is a film involving a scientist played by Thilakan who invents a locket that makes a man invisible. Using the locket Nizhalgal Ravi the hero takes revenge against Babu Antony the villain.
Mr. India 1987 Hindi Superhero film written by Salim–Javed and directed by Shekhar Kapur, starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri.
Nalaya Manithan 1989 Tamil Set in the 21st century a doctor finds a drug that can give back life to dead upon injecting it to a dead body within 2 hours of death. After testing it on a human subject he discovers that the zombie he created is immortal.
Toofan 1989 Hindi Superhero film directed by Ketan Desai, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Meenakshi Seshadri. It stars Amitabh Bachchan in a double role as twin brothers. One is the title character Toofan, a superhero who uses his crossbrow as a weapon and the other is a magician named Shyam.
Adhisaya Manithan 1990 Tamil It is a sequel to blockbuster Nalaya Manithan in which the zombie killed in the end, still lives and hunts human trespassers in an abandoned mansion.
Aditya 369 1991 Telugu First Telugu science fiction film. The film revolves around a Time Machine and a diamond robbery
Laal Paree 1991 Hindi Film starring Aditya Pancholi, Sohani, Javed Jaffrey and Gulshan Grover. Story is about Shankar, who falls in love with a girl, unaware of that she is a mermaid. Dr Jacob discovers this and tries every possible way to expose her, not knowing that she will encounter danger. It was inspired from 1984 American movie 'Splash'.
Hollywood 2002 Kannada Hollywood is a 2002 sci-fi Kannada movie directed by Dinesh Babu. It starred Upendra in a triple role as "Surendra," "Upendra" and "US 47" (an android robot) along with the Australian actress Felicity Mason as "Manisha." The movie was dubbed into Telugu the following year retaining the same title.
Patalghar 2003 Bengali The film is about a gang of criminals was searching for an ancient sleeping machine in old houses directed by Abhijit Chaudhuri.
Funn2shh.. 2003 Hindi A comedy film depicting time travel to the 10th century
Koi... Mil Gaya 2003 Hindi A Bollywood alien visitation film starring Hrithik Roshan, Rekha and Preity Zinta. The story revolves around a mentally handicapped young boy Rohit Mehra, who comes to meet with an alien into the earth. He gets a supernatural powers from the alien, by which he gradually becomes physically and mentally smart and strong. Even after the alien returns to his world, Rohit gets a power permanently from the alien.
New 2004 Tamil New is a story about an 8-year-old boy who is turned into a 28-year-old man by a scientist as a part of testing his new discovery on humans.
Rudraksh 2004 Hindi An action-adventure Hindi-language film based on the Ramayana.
Taarzan: The Wonder Car 2004 Hindi Car having artificial intelligence. Directed by Abbas-Mastan.
Alag 2006 Hindi Film starring Akshay Kapoor, Dia Mirza & Arjun Rampal. Tejas has spent his entire life in the basement and as a result of this is extremely sensitive to sunlight. His only experience of other people up until this point has been with his father and the books he provided for him. Tejas starts showing signs of Telekenesis, and is shunned by the other boys in the institute, resulting in the near fatal accident of a security guard and the death of a fellow student. Tejas is also able to wake a lady from a coma-like condition. When he is subsequently harassed by doctors and scientists wishing to perform experiments on him. Tejas is abducted and held in a glass chamber by Dr. Richard Dyer, who wants to control his mind for his own benefit.
Jaane Hoga Kya 2006 Hindi Film starring Aftab Shivdasani, Bipasha Basu & Paresh Rawal. It is about an ambitious scientist who creates a human clone in his laboratory.
Krrish 2006 Hindi A superhero sci-fi mash-up, sequel to Koi... Mil Gaya starring Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Rekha and Naseeruddin Shah.
Bharathan Effect 2007 Malayalam Science fiction thriller about a genius inventor who makes a small gadget fly without fuel using the concept of anti-gravity.
Athisayan 2007 Malayalam Super hero film directed by Vinayan.
Love Story 2050 2008 Hindi Film by Pammi Baweja.
Dasavathaaram 2008 Tamil Dasavathaaram is a Tamil science fiction film starring Kamal Haasan in multi-roles. On 20 December 2004, a bio-technology lab in the USA designs a virus (combination of Marburg and Ebola) intended as a bio-weapon. After understanding its potential, the protagonist, one of the scientists involved, refuses to give the vial containing virus away due to fear of misuse. This story deals with Chaos theory and Butterfly effect of the events that took place in 12th century Tamil Nadu leading to 26th Dec 2004 tsunami.
Drona (2008 film) 2008 Hindi A Fantasy Adventure superhero film directed by Goldie Behl, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon.
Friend 2009 Bengali A science fiction film about the friendship between a child and a robot.[12][13]
Aa Dekhen Zara 2009 Hindi A romantic sci-fi action thriller film starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, who plays a photo journalist, and Bipasha Basu, as a disc jockey. Ray Acharya (Mukesh), a struggling photographer has nothing going for him... until he inherits a very 'special' camera from his grandfather who was a scientist, as the photographs produced by the camera predict the future.
Enthiran 2010 Tamil Enthiran is a 2010 Indian Tamil science fiction action film co-written and directed by Shankar. The film features Rajinikanth in dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot alongside Aishwarya Rai. It was India's most expensive film at the time of its release.
Prince (2010 film) 2010 Hindi It is a science-fiction film action film directed by Kookie V Gulati, produced by Kumar S Taurani and Ramesh S Taurani and Starring Vivek Oberoi and Aruna Shields in the lead roles.
Action Replayy 2010 Hindi A film inspired from Back to the Future, a 1985 time travel film
7aum Arivu 2011 Tamil A science-fiction thriller film starring Suriya, Shruti Hassan, Johnny Tri Nguyen, produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin and directed by A.R. Murugadoss. The film begins with the fictional life of Bodhidharma (5th century), a master of martial arts and medical remedies, who is depicted in the film as the son of a great Tamil king of the Pallava Dynasty. In the present, Subha Srinivasan (Shruti Haasan), a Genetic Engineering student researches that Bodhidharma can be brought back to present life if his sample of DNA is matched with another sample of DNA which she finds in Aravind (Suriya) a descendant of Bodhidharma. Dong Lee (Johnny Tri Nguyen) is given the task of starting a government planned biological war against India, known as Operation Red to spread disease in India.
Ra.One 2011 Hindi Superhero film starring Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and many others. The film is about an antagonistic game character, Ra.One (played by Tom Wu and Arjun Rampal) which escapes the confines of the game into reality killing everyone (including the game designer played by Shahrukh Khan). He aims to kill the game designer's son (played by Armaan Verma) for beating him inside the game during the game launch. In order to stop him, the game's protagonist G.One (also played by Shahrukh Khan) must be brought out who must save the kidnapped kid and his mother before facing off with Ra.One.
Ambuli 2012 Tamil Ambuli is a 2012 Tamil mystery science-fiction thriller film set in the 1970s. It is about a beastly creature created as a part of a program by a British doctor which hunts humans passing the fields around facility.
Joker 2012 Hindi A man goes to a forgotten village while is working on a top secret project for creating a device to communicate with aliens.
Virus Diwan 2013 Hindi This film is about the youngest and the most Intelligent hacker in the world starring Arjun Kapoor.
Zapatlela 2 2013 Marathi This is a sci-fi film and a sequel to Zapatlela, revolving around a doll possessing the soul of Tatya Vinchu.
Khasi Katha– A Goat Saga 2013 Bengali The film begins with a scene where a butcher is going to slaughter a goat. The goat becomes talkative and pleads with the butcher for life and promises to tell a story in return. The butcher is surprised but agrees. The goat now tells the butcher the story of a female boxer Salma who belongs to a lower-middle-class family and dreams to become a boxer. Naseeruddin Shah plays the character of butcher and Anindita Bose plays the character of woman boxer.
Krrish 3 2013 Hindi A superhero sci-fi movie, sequel to Krrish. The story follows the life of Rohit Mehra, a scientist, and Krishna "Krrish" Mehra, his superhero son, who have to face an elaborate conspiracy orchestrated by the evil genius Kaal and his female henchman Kaya. In the process, Krishna's pregnant wife Priya is kidnapped by Kaal and the form-changing Kaya takes her place at the Mehra home and eventually falls in love with Krishna. Krrish 3 released worldwide on 1 November 2013. It has since received positive to mixed reviews from film critics with praise directed to Roshan and Ranaut's performances, the visual effects, and the cinematography; criticism has been directed to the music, story and screenplay.
Irandaam Ulagam 2013 Tamil Irandaam Ulagam is a Sci-fi fantasy film about two stories unfolding in two different planets, our Earth and an exoplanet involving alien life forms.
Red Rain 2013 Malayalam This is a science fiction film which stars Narain and focuses on Red Rain phenomena,UFO sightseeing and Aliens.
Shree 2013 Hindi Time-travel film starring Hussain Kuwajerwala.
Creature 3D 2014 Hindi India's First 3D Monster sci fi Movie starring Bipasha Basu and Pakistani actor Imran Abbas Naqvi in lead role
Appuchi Gramam 2014 Tamil A science fiction drama directed by Vi Anand an associate of AR Murgadoss, set in a rustic village. The film deals with immense depth of the relationships among humans, when they are made to understand that an asteroid is hitting their village.[14]
PK 2014 Hindi A satirical comedy drama film.[15][16][17] The film was directed by Rajkumar Hirani, produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi.[18]

The film deals with a humanoid alien (Aamir Khan) looking for a remote of his space-ship on earth.

I 2015 Tamil A 2015 Indian Tamil action thriller film written and directed by Shankar and co-written by Subha. Produced and distributed by V. Ravichandran under his production company, Aascar Films, the film features Vikram and Amy Jackson in lead roles while Suresh Gopi, Upen Patel, Santhanam and Ramkumar Ganesan portray pivotal roles. The soundtrack and film score were composed by A. R. Rahman. Production design was handled by T. Muthuraj. P. C. Sreeram was the film's cinematographer and editing was done by Anthony.
Mr. X 2015 Hindi A science fiction action-thriller film, tells the story of a man became invisible through an experiment.
Indru Netru Naalai 2015 Tamil Starring Vishnu Vishal, Miya, Karunakaran in lead roles and directed by newcomer Ravi Kumar.R. The music director is Hiphop Tamizha and lyrics are by Vivek, Muthamil and Hiphop Tamizha. It is a film involving a scientist played by Arya who invents a Time Machine and sends it back to the past that enables one to time travel.
Miruthan 2016 Tamil An Indian Tamil-language science fiction Zombie Thriller film, written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. The film stars Jayam Ravi and Lakshmi menon. This film, became the first Indian Tamil language film in the zombie genre.It was released on 19 February 2016. Miruthan received appreciation for its experimentation in the Horror(Zombie) genre and participated in various international film festivals.
24 2016 Tamil An is an Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film, written and directed by Vikram Kumar .The film stars Suriya, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen. Actor Suriya had played triple roles in this film. One as a scientist( Dr.Sethuraman) and other as his twin brother (Aathreya) and Mani. Its story is based on a watch named '24' which is actually a time travel equipment and it leads to a bitter battle between the twin brothers.
Iru Mugan 2016 Tamil Iru Mugan is a Tamil science fiction action film, written and directed by Anand Shankar.
A Flying Jatt 2016 Hindi It is a superhero action film co-written and directed by Remo D'Souza. The story revolves around a boy, who got superpowers from nature, and will fight against the super-villain Raka (who also got superpowers from pollution).
Carbon: The Story Of Tomorrow 2017 Hindi A Hindi science fiction short film on global warming, written and directed by Maitrey Bajpai and Ramiz Ilham Khan. The movie stars Jackky Bhagnani, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Prachi Desai in the lead roles.
Anukul 2017 Hindi A a 2017 Hindi short film directed by Sujoy Ghosh with Parambrata Chatterjee and Saurabh Shukla playing the lead roles.[19] The film is based on the master storyteller Satyajit Ray's short story of same name.[20][21]
Maayavan 2017 Tamil A Tamil science fiction mystery thriller film, written and directed by C. V. Kumar. This film deals with the concept of transferring the brain's memory into the different persons so that it may lead the person to live even more than 1000 years.
2.0 2018 Tamil An Indian Tamil-Hindi science fiction film a sequel to the Enthiran(2010), written and directed by S. Shankar.
Professor Shonku O El Dorado 2018 Bengali Produced by SVF Entertainment and directed by Sandip Ray.[22][23]
Jole Jongole 2018 Bengali The film stars Mithun Chakraborty as a 'mad' scientist who wants to bring back prehistoric creatures, perished millions of years ago from the earth as he is trying to expand the brain of crocodiles. Jackie Shroff stars as the antagonist who wants to take control of dangerous crocodiles for his own park.
Vinveli Payana Kurippugal 2018 Tamil An Indian Tamil Non-Linear science fiction black comedy film.
Short Circuit 2019 Gujarati The first Gujarati science fiction film, written and directed by Faisal Hashmi. The film revolves around a guy named Samay, who is stuck in a timeloop because of a failed experiment. He has to save his love and the world before it's too late.
Unmatta 2019 Marathi Unmatta is scifi, horror, action film. Unmatta is touted to be the best of sci-fi till date coming out from the Indian subcontinent. There seems to be heavy investment in VFx and action (Martial Arts) from production house. Movie is in post production and release will be on 22 Feb 2019.[24]
9 2019 Malayalam Nine is a Malayalam sci-fi, horror thriller movie directed by Jenuse Mohammed.It stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Master Alok in the lead roles.

A global crisis arises when a comet passes very close to the Earth for 9 days. Even though it causes no harm to humans, it causes other problems.All electrical appliances, mobile phones and most vehicles stop working. To make a feature on this Astrophysicist Albert Lewis go to The Himalayalas with his son Adam.The story then focuses on the relationship between the father and the son and the things they experience there.

Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 2019 Malayalam Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 is Malayalam-language sci-fi comedy-drama film written and directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval (in his directorial debut starring Suraj Venjaramoodu, Soubin Shahir, Kendy Zirdo, and Saiju Kurup.

It is a story about Bhaskara Poduval, a conservative villager, who hates the idea of his son relocating to Russia for a job. However, when his son brings a robot to care for him, he develops an unlikely bond with the machine

See also

References

  1. "Science Fiction in India". Archived from the original on 2007-07-12.
  2. Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy. "Before 'Tik Tik Tik', two Indian films that travelled to outer space". Scroll.in.
  3. "Entertainment News, Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood Bollywood News | Entertainment – Times of India" (in Portuguese). Movies.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  4. "Balakrishna's famous sci-fi 'Aditya 369' turns 27 today - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  5. "Across Time and Space".
  6. "Was MGR starrer Kalai Arasi the first Indian film to feature an alien? by Milliblog!". itwofs.com.
  7. "Kalai Arasi - Tamil Movie Reviews, Trailers, Wallpapers, Photos, Cast & Crew, Story & Synopsis". FilmiBeat.
  8. "Tik Tik Tik trailer: Jayam Ravi is a magician who's going to steal a missile and smash an asteroid". Hindustan Times. November 24, 2017.
  9. "India's Hollywood Takeaway". Archived from the original on 2007-02-10.
  10. "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) - Entertainment - An actor?s director". telegraphindia.com.
  11. Friend (2009 film)
  12. "Appuchi Gramam - A Sci-fi Tamil film". Sify.
  13. "Aamir Khan's son Junaid to feature in his father's upcoming movie 'Peekay'". India Today. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  14. "PK". rottentomatoes.com. 19 December 2014.
  15. "Movie Review: PK". filmfare.com.
  16. "Rajkumar Hirani turns producer for Aamir Khan's 'Peekay'". Hindustan Times. 11 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  17. "Parambrata, Saurabh Shukla in Sujoy Ghosh's short, Anukul - Times of India".
  18. "Sujoy Ghosh to make short film on Satyajit Ray story". 24 March 2017.
  19. Hungama, Bollywood (24 March 2017). "Sujoy Ghosh to make short film on Satyajit Ray's Anukul - Bollywood Hungama".
  20. Singh, Shiv Sahay (December 9, 2017). "Satyajit Ray's Prof. Shonku is ready for the big screen" via www.thehindu.com.
  21. "Satyajit Ray's scientist-inventor character Professor Shonku gets a big screen adaptation - Entertainment News , Firstpost". Firstpost. November 30, 2017.
  22. "Video". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
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