Though Bollywood’s
been the mistress of melodrama since its inception, science fiction/
fantasy themes are relatively virgin territory - the only exceptions
being Shekhar Kapur’s Mr. India [the film that after Gabbar
Singh introduced another classic villain: Mogambo, played with
ferocious glee by Amrish Puri, and also redefined wet saari erotica,
re: Kaate Nahi Kathte], and the recent Hrithik Roshan starrers
E.T. – whoops I mean Koi…Mil Gaya and Krissh. I’m
not including the atrocious Love Story 2050 or Abhishek Bachchan’s
2008 ‘Drone-a’ in this category: the self-proclaimed
Harry Potter meets Prince of Persia was more ‘Over-the-top
acting’ meets ‘Laugh-out-loud plot.’
Cut to 2010. Bollywood and its Tamil counterpart, Tollywood, present
two high-budget, high-octane sci-fi films featuring Indian cinema’s
crème-de-la-crème.
Enthiran:
The Robot
Director: S. Shankar
Starring: Rajnikanth, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Danny Denzongpa
Releasing: September 3, 2010
The Synopsis (Rumored; unofficial): Dr. Vaseegaran [Rajnikanth]
is a scientist who specializes in robotics; he creates a robot
with artificial intelligence and names it Chitti [also Ranjnikanth].
Chitti’s your average Bicentennial Man; he’s got strength,
he’s got intellect, he’s got humanity, he’s
got killer dance moves (C’mon, this is Tollywood we’re
talking about!) He also has a libido (read: heart), as he falls
in love with Sana (Aishwarya Rai) when Dr. Vaseegaran introduces
him into a human environment. Of course, given his extraordinary
capabilities, the villain (Danny Denzongpa) wants a piece of the
silicon pie – and the film henceforth revolves around the
battle between the scientist and the forces of evil.
Now, the last time director S. Shankar and Rajnikanth collaborated
(2007), they came up with Sivaji – The Boss, a film that
not only ate its competition (Bollywood’s Jhoom Barabar
Jhoom), but also enjoyed phenomenal success worldwide. So even
though its first official poster depicts Aishwarya Rai channeling
head-gear even Lady Gaga would call OTT, the film’s (also
to be dubbed in Hindi) touted to be a blockbuster. According to
reports, it’s being made on the most massive budget for
any Indian film (so was another Aishwarya Rai/S. Shankar collaboration
Jeans back in 1998 – though a particularly horrid movie,
it was still a hit all over India.) Here’s where things
get really interesting though: as with all Shankar films, Oscar
and Grammy award winning composer A.R. Rahman produced the soundtrack
for this movie – and within days of its release, it’s
created records by topping the iTunes Store Top 10 World Albums
list. Are you listening, songs.pk? We want (free) download now!
You can watch the trailer on YouTube.com.
The robots seem a direct rip-off from the Terminator series slash
I, Robot, and certain sequences are just too incredulous to mention
here, but I applaud it for its sheer…audacity?
Ra.
One (or Ra. 1)
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Tom
Wu
Releasing: Early 2011
The Synopsis (Rumored; unofficial): Attempting to connect with
his teenage son, a game designer/software engineer Jeevan (Shahrukh
Khan) creates the ultimate video game-villain Ra. One (Arjun Rampal?)
When the villainous program becomes self-aware, it escapes from
the game and kills the father. (How, you ask? Because it’s
Bollywood, I reply.) Now hunted by the digital demon because he’s
the only player to ever defeat him, the boy must extract the game’s
hero, G. One (Get it? Jeevan / G. One) – designed in his
father’s image (Did you think SRK had a cameo?!) Together,
the unlikely duo form a relationship they never shared as father
and son while stopping the villain’s plan to enslave the
world. Oh, and Kareena Kapoor plays the mom.
Anubhav Sinha’s claim to fame is Tum Bin, the 2001 surprise
hit – his more recent works Dus (best known for songs/mehndi
rages ‘Dus Bahane’ and ‘Deedar De’) and
heist saga Cash were average at the Indian box-office and critical
duds. No wonder its rumored SRK asked bestie Karan Johar to ‘help
out’ with certain romantic scenes of the film during a shoot
in London. Reasons to get excited: Music composers Vishal and
Shekhar roped in hip-hop artist Akon for a song in the film. The
movie features death-defying and ‘breathtaking’ stunts;
Shahrukh Khan’s superhero avatar is even rumored to be able
to ‘solidify’ electricity. Whoa. That sounds really
good on paper, but...
Whether either of the two films is able to hit box-office gold
(though that’s probably a given: it’s Rajnikanth and
Shahrukh Khan we’re talking about here) remains to be seen.
For now, if you’re in the mood for some sublime science-fiction
from the subcontinent, I thoroughly recommend you revisit (or
get acquainted with) Mr. India: who can forget Sri Devi’s
‘Hawa Hawai’ performance, Anil Kapoor and his bunch
of loveable orphans, and of course, the epic line: ‘Mogambo
khush hua.’
Shekhar Kapur, you did Bollywood a solid favour.