New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film Volume 5 Number 3 © 2007 Intellect Ltd. Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/ncin.5.3.217/1 Nationalism and postcolonialism in Indian science fiction: Bollywood’s Koi . . . Mil Gaya (2003) Dominic Alessio Richmond, The American International University in London Jessica Langer Richmond, The American International University in London 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 cul- tural 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. Introduction Koi . . . Mil Gaya/I Have Found Someone (Roshan 2003), a Hindi-language musical about a scientist who contacts extraterrestrials by way of an advanced computer, is Hindi cinema’s first big-budget attempt at science fiction (SF). 1 Despite the growth of Bollywood as an international cinema in terms of economic success, Indian film in general, including Bollywood, has suffered a ‘near-chronic omission from most global film histories’ (Rajadhyaksha and Willemen 2002: 10). Rectification of this omission is one reason for our focus on this film. 2 However, Koi . . . Mil Gaya (hereafter Koi) is particularly noteworthy for other reasons as well. For one, it expresses a commercial decision by Bollywood to engage in a major foray into the SF genre. Such a move represents a deliberate attempt to win a greater share of an increasingly competitive domestic and global market by catering to a popular niche cat- egory, since Hindi-dubbed Hollywood SF and horror films such as Jurassic Park (Spielberg 1993) and The Mummy Returns (Sommers 2001) have 1 Possibly the first Indian science fiction film was the early 1950s US-Tamil co-production Kaadu/ The Jungle (Belke 1952) about living woolly mammoths and starring Caesar Romero, Rod Cameron and the Indian actress Sulochana. Leeper suggests that Bollywood’s Mr. India (Kapur 1987), which toyed with the invisibility idea, might also contain some SF elements (Leeper 2003). 217 NCJCF 5 (3) 217–229 © Intellect Ltd 2007 Keywords Bollywood science fiction modernity postcolonialism extreme nationalism India