Sci-fi is not for the untrained: Anubhav

He took up the herculean task of directing RA.One, one of India’s most technologically backed movies.

He took up the herculean task of directing RA.One, one of India’s most technologically backed movies. But Anubhav Sinha (above) says science-fiction as a movie genre is a domain best kept away by untrained filmmakers. He feels Indian filmmakers are yet to get a grip on the right way to script sci-fi films, and that’s a reason why the genre is yet to get popular here.

Director-Anubhav-Sinha

“The basic reason is that we are not trained to think in that manner as writers. The Mumbai film industry started with filmmakers who were not trained. Science fiction is not something that can be done by untrained filmmakers,” Sinha said. “To make such films, the filmmaker should not be scared of technology,” he added, as he spoke during an open forum discussion titled Science fiction genre — Does the ethnicity of the filmmaker impact his film?.

The discussion took place last week at the ongoing 14th Mumbai Film Festival. Before Ra.One, Sinha had directed movies like Tum Bin and Cash, but working on the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer mega-budget movie has pushed his interest more towards visual effects.

He says a reason why he could work around Ra.One was because he has been a student of mechanical engineering. So he could understand technology. However, he admitted, “My exposure to science fiction films started when I started making Ra.One. My inspiration came from a commercial. After I made it, I have become very interested in visual effects both as a director and producer.” The 47-year-old has no immediate plans to direct a sci-fi film.

“As a director, after Ra.One, I am very tired because it took so much time. I may or may not work on a sci-fiction film, but as a producer, I am working on creating visual effects properties. I will soon announce it,” he said.