The Alien
Encyclopedia
The Alien was an Indian
-American
science fiction film
under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. It was being directed by the celebrated Indian
director Satyajit Ray
and co-produced by Hollywood
studio Columbia Pictures
. The script was written by Ray in 1967, loosely based on Bankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu's Friend or Mr. Banku's Friend), a Bengali science fiction story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh
, the Ray family magazine, which gained popularity among Bengalis
in the early 1960s. Bankubabur Bandhu was eventually adapted into a television movie
by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray
alongside Koushik Sen
in 2006.
. The villagers began worshiping it as a temple risen from the depths of the earth. The alien, known as "Mr. Ang", established contact with a young village boy named Haba (meaning "Moron" in Bengali
) through dreams and also played a number of pranks on the village community in course of its short stay on Planet Earth. The plot contained the ebullient presence of an India
n businessman, a journalist from Calcutta
and an American
engineer.
Ray's biographer W. Andrew Robinson
describes one particular scene from the screenplay as follows: "In a series of fantastically quick, short steps over the lotus leaves, the Alien reaches the shore of the pond. He looks down at the grass, examines the blade and is off hopping into the bamboo grove. There the Alien sees a small plant. His eyes light up with a yellow light. He passes his hand over the plant, and flowers come out. A thin, soft high-pitched laugh shows the Alien is pleased."
as producer for this planned US–India co-production, and Peter Sellers
and Marlon Brando
acting in lead roles. However, Ray was surprised to find that the script he had written had already been copyright
ed and the fee appropriated by Mike Wilson (Ray's representative in Hollywood). Wilson had copyrighted the script as co-writer, despite not being involved in any way in its creation. Marlon Brando
later dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn
in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta. Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 1970s and '80s but nothing came of it.
films was the portrayal of an alien from outer space as a kind and playful being, invested with magical powers and capable of interacting with children, in contrast to earlier science fiction movies which portrayed aliens as dangerous creatures. However, noted sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein
had published his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land
a year before Ray's story. It featured a kind and peaceful lone alien with psychic abilities, and his interactions with people on Earth.
When the New Hollywood
film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
was produced in 1982 by the same company that had contracted with Ray in 1967, many, including Arthur C. Clarke
, saw striking similarities in the movie to Ray's earlier script - Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 Sight & Sound
feature, with further details revealed by Ray's biographer Andrew Robinson
(in The Inner Eye, 1989). Ray believed that Steven Spielberg
's film "would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies." When the issue was raised by the press, Spielberg denied this claim and said "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood." Star Weekend Magazine disputes Spielberg's claim, pointing out that he had graduated from high school in 1965 and began his career as a director in Hollywood in 1969. Besides E.T., it is also believed that another earlier Spielberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977), may also have been inspired by The Alien.
The 2003 Bollywood
film Koi... Mil Gaya
, directed by Rakesh Roshan
, appears to be based on Satyajit Ray's The Alien. In particular, the film appears to parallel The Alien more closely than E.T. in that it revolves around a mentally retarded
person coming in contact with a friendly alien.
In 2003, Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray
began working on adapting Ray's original 1962 story Bankubabur Bandhu into a Bengali
television movie
of the same name. The adapted film, directed by Koushik Sen
, was eventually shown on television in India
in 2006. This version is based on Ray's original story Bankubabur Bandhu where the protagonist was a school teacher named Banku Babu, in contrast to his script for The Alien where the protagonist was a boy named Haba.
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
-American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. It was being directed by the celebrated Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
director Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
and co-produced by Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
studio Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. The script was written by Ray in 1967, loosely based on Bankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu's Friend or Mr. Banku's Friend), a Bengali science fiction story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh
Sandesh (magazine)
Sandesh is a Bengali children's magazine. The periodical was first published by Upendrakishore Raychowdhury in 1913 through his publishing company, M/s U. Ray and Sons. After the death of Upendrakishore Roychowdhury in 1915, his eldest son Sukumar Ray succeeded as the editor of the magazine in...
, the Ray family magazine, which gained popularity among Bengalis
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
in the early 1960s. Bankubabur Bandhu was eventually adapted into a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray is a film director living in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the only son of the noted Bengali director Satyajit Ray, and Bijoya Ray.-Career:...
alongside Koushik Sen
Koushik Sen
Koushik Sen is a prominent Indian TV, Bengali film and Bengali theatre and stage Actor.He is an accomplished actor both on stage and in film. He won the prestigious BFJA awards for best supporting actor for his performance in the Mrinal Sen directed film Aamar Bhuvan.-Early life:He studied at the...
in 2006.
Plot
The plot revolved around a spaceship that landed in a pond in rural BengalBengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. The villagers began worshiping it as a temple risen from the depths of the earth. The alien, known as "Mr. Ang", established contact with a young village boy named Haba (meaning "Moron" in Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
) through dreams and also played a number of pranks on the village community in course of its short stay on Planet Earth. The plot contained the ebullient presence of an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n businessman, a journalist from Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
engineer.
Ray's biographer W. Andrew Robinson
W. Andrew Robinson
W. Andrew Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London...
describes one particular scene from the screenplay as follows: "In a series of fantastically quick, short steps over the lotus leaves, the Alien reaches the shore of the pond. He looks down at the grass, examines the blade and is off hopping into the bamboo grove. There the Alien sees a small plant. His eyes light up with a yellow light. He passes his hand over the plant, and flowers come out. A thin, soft high-pitched laugh shows the Alien is pleased."
Production
The Alien had Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
as producer for this planned US–India co-production, and Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
acting in lead roles. However, Ray was surprised to find that the script he had written had already been copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed and the fee appropriated by Mike Wilson (Ray's representative in Hollywood). Wilson had copyrighted the script as co-writer, despite not being involved in any way in its creation. Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
later dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor. Coburn appeared in nearly 70 films and made over 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, and played a wide range of roles and won an Academy Award for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.A capable,...
in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta. Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 1970s and '80s but nothing came of it.
Legacy
What differentiated The Alien from previous science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
films was the portrayal of an alien from outer space as a kind and playful being, invested with magical powers and capable of interacting with children, in contrast to earlier science fiction movies which portrayed aliens as dangerous creatures. However, noted sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
had published his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. The novel explores his interaction with—and...
a year before Ray's story. It featured a kind and peaceful lone alien with psychic abilities, and his interactions with people on Earth.
When the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
was produced in 1982 by the same company that had contracted with Ray in 1967, many, including Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, saw striking similarities in the movie to Ray's earlier script - Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
feature, with further details revealed by Ray's biographer Andrew Robinson
W. Andrew Robinson
W. Andrew Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London...
(in The Inner Eye, 1989). Ray believed that Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's film "would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies." When the issue was raised by the press, Spielberg denied this claim and said "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood." Star Weekend Magazine disputes Spielberg's claim, pointing out that he had graduated from high school in 1965 and began his career as a director in Hollywood in 1969. Besides E.T., it is also believed that another earlier Spielberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
(1977), may also have been inspired by The Alien.
The 2003 Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Koi... Mil Gaya
Koi... Mil Gaya
Koi... Mil Gaya is a 2003 Bollywood science fiction film, directed by Rakesh Roshan , starring Hrithik Roshan, Rekha, and Preity Zinta. It was released on 8 August 2003...
, directed by Rakesh Roshan
Rakesh Roshan
Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan (Hindi: राकेश रोशन (born Rakesh Roshan Lal Nagrath on 6 September 1949 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a producer, director and former actor in Bollywood films who was born in a Punjabi Hindu Kayastha family...
, appears to be based on Satyajit Ray's The Alien. In particular, the film appears to parallel The Alien more closely than E.T. in that it revolves around a mentally retarded
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
person coming in contact with a friendly alien.
In 2003, Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray is a film director living in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the only son of the noted Bengali director Satyajit Ray, and Bijoya Ray.-Career:...
began working on adapting Ray's original 1962 story Bankubabur Bandhu into a Bengali
Bengali cinema
Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...
television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
of the same name. The adapted film, directed by Koushik Sen
Koushik Sen
Koushik Sen is a prominent Indian TV, Bengali film and Bengali theatre and stage Actor.He is an accomplished actor both on stage and in film. He won the prestigious BFJA awards for best supporting actor for his performance in the Mrinal Sen directed film Aamar Bhuvan.-Early life:He studied at the...
, was eventually shown on television in India
Television in India
Television is one of the major mass media of India and is a huge industry and has thousands of programmes in all the states of India. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame. TV soaps are extremely popular with housewives as well as...
in 2006. This version is based on Ray's original story Bankubabur Bandhu where the protagonist was a school teacher named Banku Babu, in contrast to his script for The Alien where the protagonist was a boy named Haba.