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. 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. 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. Mr. India brought the idea of science fiction to the general population in India. The 1991 Telugu film Aditya 369 was the first time travel film made in India. The film explored dystopian and post-apocalyptic themes in a satirical manner. It was a critical and commercial success and is considered a landmark film in the science fiction genre in Indian cinema. 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.
2.0 and Kalki 2898 AD, in the sci-fi genre, have emerged as the most expensive Indian films.

List of films

The following list contains the names of the Indian science fiction films released since 1952. Early 21st century has seen the release of more than 30 such films, compared to the previous 14, there is less info about it now they Indian film classics.

Space Opera films

The following are the list of space opera science fiction films.
TitleYearLanguageDescription
Kalai Arasi1963TamilKalai Arasi is a well-blended story of romance, science fiction, action and drama with the main cast of M. G. Ramachandran and Bhanumathi playing double roles. The film was the first in Indian cinema to illustrate a story which describes aliens, alien abduction, alien weapons, space travel and futuristic technology.
Chand Par Chadayee1967HindiThe film stars Dara Singh, Helen. After landing on the Moon, an astronaut and his associate face off against a variety of warriors and monsters from another planet. Directed by T. P. Sundaram.
Amrutham Chandamamalo2014TeluguThe film is a spin off of the comedy TV series Amrutham where the characters go on a trip to the moon.
Tik Tik Tik2018TamilTik Tik Tik is written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. It features Jayam Ravi, Aaron Aziz, and Nivetha Pethuraj in the lead roles. First Tamil film based on space.
Antariksham 9000 KMPH2018TeluguDirected by Sankalp Reddy starring Varun Tej, Aditi Rao Hydari and Lavanya Tripathi.
Received praise for the Visual effects. Film is based in space.
Cargo2019HindiThis philosophical science fiction morbid humor Film is written, directed and co-produced by Arati Kadav, produced by Anurag Kashyap, Shlok Sharma, Navin Shetty, Zain Matcheswalla, Rahul Puri. It features Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi in lead roles.