Koi... Mil Gaya

A science fiction film set in India. Sanjay is a scientist. He sends a signal into space and one day gets an answer; a musical series of sounds comes back. Nobody believes him. He is mocked at the board where he presents it and dies that night in an accident; his wife is pregnant. His son Rohit is born. Because of the accident his development is delayed; he is twenty but speaks like a child and still attends the lower classes at school. His friends are children. He plays basketball with them and he is always the one who loses. Nisha comes to the town. She becomes his friend and, unlike everyone else, does not look down on him. Rohit finds his father's computer. He sends the same signal and something comes. A craft lands. When the army arrives it takes off, but one of those aboard is left behind. From there the film is a story of hiding. Rohit and his friends hide the being at home, give it a name and feed it. The being has an ability. It strengthens whatever it touches, and it changes Rohit as well. What the narrative is interested in is not space but exclusion: at its centre is a young man nobody takes seriously because he is different. The structure is very close to a well known American film. The narrative does not hide it and adapts the pattern to an Indian story. The basketball section is its best known scene and closes with a match in the town. The film was a large box office success in India and two sequels followed. Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Rekha and Rajat Bedi are in the cast. Rakesh Roshan directed and produced. Who it is for: anyone who likes family films and emotional Indian narratives. Who it is not for: anyone looking for originality; the plot is openly borrowed and the effects are weak even for their time.