Authors: Alessio, Dominic; Langer, Jessica

Source: New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, Volume 5, Number 3, November 2007 , pp. 217-229(13)

Publisher: Intellect

Abstract:

Koi Mil Gaya (2003), a Hindi-language Bollywood musical set in the near future and concerning a scientist who contacts extraterrestrials, is Hindi cinema's first big-budget attempt at science fiction. It is worthy of note for several reasons. The film, which is filled with references to Hindu gods and mythologies, aligns itself with, borrows from, and reshapes the traditions of science fiction (Batty and Markley 2002), using strategies associated with postcolonial cultural production. It also subverts many of the conventions of Hollywood science fiction cinema, using similar aspects of film form for different purposes. However, Koi Mil Gaya occupies a contested postcolonial space, as its alignment with the recent rise of Hindu nationalism in India creates a kind of colonial order in itself; one which in the end re-inscribes the hierarchical systems of oppression that are associated with colonialism.

Keywords: Bollywood; science fiction; modernity; postcolonialism; extreme nationalism; India

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/ncin.5.3.217_1

Affiliations: 1: Richmond, The American International University in London.

Publication date: 2007-11-07

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• The journal aims to provide a platform for the study of new forms of cinematic practice and fresh approaches to cinemas hitherto neglected in western scholarship. It particularly welcomes scholarship that does not take existing paradigms and theoretical conceptualisations as given; rather, it anticipates submissions that are refreshing in approach and exhibit a willingness to tackle cinematic practices that are still in the process of development into something new.  
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