So good to hear we will have a proper sciene fiction film, after all, made in Bollywood and enhanced by Hollywood. Debutant hindi film maker Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, who won a national award last season for his India-Pakistan themed film Lahore, is collaborating with top end Hollywood special effects master John Palmer to make what is being dubbed as this country’s first ever competent sci-fi movie. Palmer has Hollywood greats like Armageddon, Apollo 13, Species II, Star Trek, Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow to his credit.

The Hindi film industry’s contribution to this genre of film making has been minimal and mediocre. Reason why even a hint of sci-fi in a Hindi movie with hydra-headed plots thrills the Indian audience. It is, therefore, a novel idea to make an out-and-out science fiction. The theme has not been tried too well in India and could be a runaway success, what with most other genres — action, romance, drama et al. — done to death.

Which brings us to the question that Gauhar Raza raised in his commentary some time back: are we, as a nation, armed with enough scientific temperament to appreciate artistic endeavours in science? Do we really have the audience and a policy framework to support creators of popular science media?

The reaction to Chauhan’s much-awaited film should answer some of those questions.