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 English-Tamil film Kaadu was made, which was an Indian-American co-production.[1] The 1963 Tamil film Kalai Arasi, 1965 Telugu film Dorikithe Dongalu, and 1967 Hindi film Chand Par Chadayee also have science fiction in their 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 1987, the superhero film Mr. India was a huge success, which strengthened the hold of sci-fi films in India, especially Hindi cinema. 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 population in India.[1] The 1991 Telugu film Aditya 369 was the first time travel film made in India.[4][5] The film explored dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes in a satirical manner.[6][4] It was a critical and commercial success and is considered a landmark film in the science fiction genre in Indian cinema.[4][6][5] In 2003, the blockbuster film Koi... Mil Gaya marked the beginning of the successful Krrish, which is the first sci-fi/superhero film series in Indian cinema.[7]

2.0 (2018) and Kalki 2898 AD (2024), in the sci-fi genre, have emerged as the most expensive Indian films.

  1. ^ a b "Science Fiction in India". sciencefictionlab.lcc.gatech.edu. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  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 15 October 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Goyal, Samarth (30 December 2021). "Best Indian Movies Dealing With Dystopia and Post Apocalypse". Outlook. Retrieved 22 September 2022. The 1991 Telugu-language film is vastly considered the first Indian film ever based on the concept of time travel.
  5. ^ a b Nyayapati, Neeshita. "Balakrishna's famous sci-fi 'Aditya 369' turns 27 today". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 19 March 2023. 'Aditya 369' was considered to be the first time travel film made not just in the Telugu film industry, but also in India.
  6. ^ a b Ethamukkala, Hemachandra (25 March 2022). "From Nandamuri Balakrishna's 'Aditya 369' To 'Ismart Shankar' – Here's A Look At The Most Popular Science-Fiction South Indian Films!". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 September 2022. It was Singeetham Srinivas Rao's 'Aditya 369' that first tasted a huge success in Tollywood and it remains one of the all-time classics till today!
  7. ^ "Across Time and Space". Archived from the original on 1 May 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)