Rakesh Roshan introduced us to a desi version of ET in Koi Mil Gaya in which an extra-terrestrial comes to Earth and gives special powers to the under-developed son ( Hrithik Roshan ) of a scientist.

The theme was carried forward in the film’s sequel Krrish even though the movie dwelt less on sci-fi and more on the superhuman antics of the protagonist. The only sci-fi bit was a special machine that enabled the movie’s villain, a megalomaniac scientist, to see the future.

Now, just around the corner is Love Story 2050 , a futuristic love story and India’s first time travel film set in Mumbai forty-two years from now. In the movie, the protagonists ( Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra ) travel into the future through a special time machine invented by an eccentric scientist ( Boman Irani ). The futuristic Mumbai in the film has flying cars, 200-story skyscrapers, skyrails and personal robots.

Even as it still remains to be seen how authentic a sci-fi film ‘Love Story 2050’ turns out to be, the future of the genre looks promising in Bollywood.

For one, south director Shankar is all geared up to make a big budget sci-fi thriller Robot with Aishwarya Rai and Rajnikant . Secondly, a technically proficient director like Shirish Kunder plans to produce and direct a sci-fi flick. And lastly, Shekhar Kapur is said to be thinking of reviving his shelved ‘Time Machine’.