The first feature film made in India was Raja Harishchandra in 1913. The Bollywood industry made hundreds of thousands of films from then. While dance and music are important motives in Indian movies, only a few directors take on science fiction and high-tech titles.
So, how about checking out the best technology movies coming from Bollywood? Here’s the list of the films you shouldn’t miss if you love this genre!
- Kalai Arasi (1963)
Official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPT_2QQo_sw
Let’s start by honoring the pioneers of the SF (science-fiction) genre in India. Kalai Arasi is a movie in the Tamil language, and it features the first-ever alien character in Indian cinematography. The plot is about aliens impressed with Indian classical music. They try to kidnap a woman to teach those tunes to their planet’s inhabitants.
The girl’s boyfriend plays the role of a hero. He embarks on an adventure and heads to another planet to save the love of his life. Despite the unique idea, Kalai Arasi can’t compare to modern movies when it comes to production quality. If you want to watch this classical gem, check the trailer above.
- Mr. India (1987)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XJxoDYkk8o
Mr. India is a movie about a man called Arun struggling to make ends meet. An international smuggler Mogambo tries to evict him to get the house for weapon storage. But when Arun comes across a high-tech gadget that makes him invisible, everything changes.
Once the smuggler learns about the device, he wants to control it to rule the country. Arun tries to stop him, but there’s a problem. The red color makes him visible despite the device’s power. Can he stop Mugambo and save India and his true love?
Mr. India is a genre mixture featuring SF, family, love, and action elements. Thanks to the invisible device, Arun gets anywhere without people noticing. It’s similar to staying anonymous and bypassing geographical restrictions to access any site if you download Surfshark VPN. The difference is that you don’t have to move a single inch.
- 16 December (2002)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBmI3IgPju0
Unlike the previous two, 16 December doesn’t have SF elements. It offers high-tech gadgets and a superb spy plot. A Pakistani terrorist plans to use a nuclear bomb to destroy New Delhi. He even has a date to launch to bomb – you guessed it, it’s 16 December.
Indian intelligence doesn’t have much time to stop the disaster. The agents use high-tech communication, spy cameras, and other gadgets. They also demonstrate fantastic skills in the field. 16 December might remind you a bit of Mission Impossible. And while you wait for the seventh installment, this Bollywood gem could be worth watching.
- Koi…Mil Gaya (2003)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBpZH-CFgZ0
It’s evident that Koi Mil Gaya draws inspiration from ET. Hrithik Roshan put a personal stamp on the movie and gained a huge fan base in India after it. He stars as Rohit, a mentally challenged boy. After a car accident when he was in his mom’s womb, Rohit suffered brain damage.
Despite that, the boy tries to continue in his father’s footsteps of talking to aliens. He manages to do that and invites aliens to visit the Earth. They visit the town briefly and leave one of their friends behind. Rohit finds the alien and enters a fantastic adventure. Koi Mil Gaya is only the first installment in the successful franchise.
- Action Replayy (2010)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOhP5iIeuBU
What if Back to the Future was a comedy? Bollywood offers an answer to that question in its Action Replayy film from 2010. Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar play lead roles in a movie about a boy trying to save his parents’ marriage. He returns to the 1970s via time travel and soon finds out things are more complicated than they look.
The young man finds his mom has an admirer who will stop at nothing to marry her. Can he save his parents’ love story and ensure everything happens as it should?
- Creature 3D (2014)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqER_Qt2_2g
Creature 3D wasn’t received well by the critics. However, Vikram Bhatt did an important thing with this title. He created the first Indian monster movie. The plot is simple – a forest lodge opens, but it awakens an ancient creature. It’s not happy, so it attacks the lodge.
Imran Abbas and Bipasha Basu star in this mixture of horror, action, and sci-fi. The movie captures the scary atmosphere and how the region lives in fear. The only person that could help is Dr. Moga, but can they reach him in time?
- 2.0 (2018)
Official trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qOl_7qfPOM
2.0 is actually a sequel to the movie called Robot from 2010. Dr. Vaseegaran, the protagonist, notices weird things happening in Chennai. Mobile phones have started disappearing throughout the city.
Vaseegaran identifies a bird creature using the fifth element force behind this act. He restores his Chitti robot that joins with the new machine called Nila. Together, they need to figure out what’s wrong and save Chennai. 2.0 set the record for the budget spent on a single movie. The creators invested $76 million (Rs.543 crore), and it turned out to be a big success.
Wrapping Up
There weren’t many attempts to make sci-fi and high-tech movies in Bollywood until a couple of decades ago. These genres still aren’t a priority for the industry. But as time passes, they attract more interest and get bigger budgets.
As a result, we expect movies with superb production quality in the coming years. Until that happens, you can enjoy the SF and techie Indian movie titles from this list.