I found a great interview with South Asian/American science fiction author Anil Menon, linked right here. He talks about the history and current state of science fiction in India. Really interesting stuff, and a well written article. There is a long history of Bengali sci fi, with J.C. Bose considered the founding father. The earliest Bengali science fiction was written in the 1800s (pre War of the Worlds). It’s important to note in Menon’s interview that there is a connection between science fiction and a history of British colonial rule. I’m constantly questioning the utility of the categorization of science fiction and fantasy. It’s easy to see how genres are gendered and raced. I.e. fantasy is written by women, fantastical writing by people of color is often grouped into magical realism. There are South Asian authors (including Salmon Rushdie), and South Asian/American authors who draw on Hindu mythology, and often portray elements of magic or the fantastic in their stories. It is usually only when these texts are “scientific” in nature or clearly inspired from the works of Western science fiction that they are classified as “sci fi”, so many authors are overlooked. It seems that many of the Bengali writers were inspired by the British, and Menon notes that science fiction has not been embraced by most of the population, but is gaining popularity.

This brings me to my next question, where is the science fiction in Bollywood? Bollywood is bigger than Hollywood, yet the first Bollywood science fiction movie only came out in 2003. Koi…Mil Gaya is a film that offers up a Bollywood version of the E.T. story, a nerdy student makes contact with an alien. The film has many references to Hindu mythology and gods, and plays with Western genre conventions. Koi Mil Gaya enjoyed immense popularity and seems to have sparked an emergence in science fiction troupes in Bollywood movies. Enjoy a scene from the film below!

Click here to view the embedded video.