Bollywood gears for Sci-fi invasion

It's a well-known fact that Bollywood's tried-and-true formula requires a few genetically-blessed stars who break out into the occasional dramatic song and dance sequence.

But soon audiences can expect to see robots and aliens thrown into this theatrical mix, as Bollywood producers realise the box-office potential of the sci-fi flick.

The hype surrounding this genre has reached fever pitch recently in the lead-up to the eagerly anticipated futuristic films Love Story 2050 and Drona with their big star casts.

If this isn't enough, India's most expensive and ambitious sci-fi project Robot, starring Rajnikant and Aishwarya Rai, is already receiving unprecedented fanfare.

Late wake-up

The likes of Steven Spielberg have built a career on the back of big-budget sci-fi extravaganzas such as E.T., Jurassic Park and War Of The Worlds and while these films had a strong Indian following, the genre's silver screen appeal never translated to Bollywood.

This was mostly due to a cash-flow problem, as the massive budgets required to produce a sci-fi laden with special effects was too costly for Mumbai-based moviemakers. Moreover, Bollywood wasn't equipped with the digital studios to produce such films.

But things are slowly changing and Bollywood, with its growing clout in the overseas market, now has enough financial muscle to finally experiment with the sci-fi world.

There were zilch notable sci-fi Bollywood projects until the arrival of Mr India (1987) with Anil Kapoor playing the title role. In the film he possesses the power to become invisible thanks to his wrist watch.

The Shekhar Kapur directed film was highly popular among kids and gave Bollywood one its most-iconic villain, Mogambo immortalised by Amrish Puri.

Following the film's success Kapur launched Bollywood's biggest sci-fi project called Time Machine, starring Aamir Khan and Raveena Tandon, but the film wasn't completed.

Many believe had the film been released successfully, it could have paved the way for sci-fi flicks. It took Hrithik Roshan starrer Koi Mil Gaya (2003) to rekindle the interest in sci-fi projects as this film was similar to E.T., with India's first alien character called Jaadu.

The film's super success resulted in a sequel, Krrish (2006), that gave birth to an Indian superhero once again depicted by Roshan, who saves the world from a power-hungry scientist. In between, there was a small flick called Fan2ssh, with Paresh Rawal that dealt with the subject of time travel in a comic manner.

It was actually the twin success of the Roshan flicks that set the ball rolling for Bollywood sci-fi. Producer-director Harry Baweja launches his son Harman in Love Story 2050, where Harman and Priyanka Chopra travels to 2050 through a time machine built by an eccentric scientist played by Boman Irani (few sequences from I, Robot and Star Wars thrown in for good measure).

The film shows a futuristic Mumbai transformed by robots and flying cars, ensuring Love Story 2050 will be first of its kind.

Following its release will come Drona, a heavy-duty special effects driven flick with Abhishek Bachchan as the super hero who wins in a battle against evil. Once again Chopra will star in Drona, making her a sci-fi specialist heroine after her earlier foray into the genre in Krrish.

Love Story 2050 and Drona are creating a lot of buzz but easily the biggest among all of them is the Robot with its Rs1 billion (Dh85 million) budget to be directed by Shankar.

The pre-production of this magnum opus alone will run for almost a year to ensure that the film is marketed on a large scale. With such an unheard of budget in Indian cinema, along with two of India's most popular stars, Rajnikant and Rai, the film simply can't go wrong.

If even one of these big-budget sci-fi flicks hits the bull's eye, it will open the doors for sci-fi adventures in Bollywood. In fact it will come as a relief for audience who are looking for something different from the clichéd subjects that are regularly churned out.

You never know, you may have a Bollywood musical love triangle involving an actor, an actress and a robot.

SRK: the superhero

With many of sci-fi projects on the anvil, how could India's biggest star, Shah Rukh Khan, be ruled out of the race?

Khan is seriously toying with the idea of a big-budget sci-fi superhero flick in order to please his kids, who are keen that their father star in such a film.

Khan had opted out of Robot earlier in addition to Ram Gopal Varma's sci-fi flick, Time Machine — a smart move given that the film never materialised.

So Khan is keen to break his sci-fi jinx and his company Red Chilies Entertainment is already working on the details of his superhero project.