Indian speculative fiction waits for its next big superhero

In 1998, long before Krrish and RaOne, there was Captain Vyom — a half alien, half human soldier tasked with chasing down criminals in the cosmos. Vyom was India’s Captain James Kirk, and the show — a sci-fi fantasy space opera — gave Indian viewers an exciting hero, complete with his own motley crew, a world government headquartered in New Delhi (led by Tom Alter’s ‘Vishwapramukh’) and Hindi-speaking aliens and supervillains. The show has been available online for a couple of years, and some episodes have as many as half a million views, proving its cult status. Even though it has a rather campy feel, with unconvincing action sequences and has taken obvious inspiration from the old Star Wars movies and Star Trek, it makes for interesting viewing even now. As the good captain, played by Milind Soman, turns 20, one wonders why there is such a lack of programming in sci-fi, fantasy, and speculative fiction in contemporary India.

Other than a retelling of Hindu mythological tales, hardly any Indian speculative fiction has made it to television or cinema. That genre, of course, is well fed by American and British swashbuckle, from Bond to Batman, leaving Indian cinema to mostly fill the dance and drama slots. But as the multiplex phenomenon has grown, visual storytelling has found space for finer, subtler shades. And along with the staple of what has come to be known as mainstream Bollywood, there is a lot of great content in Indian cinema — across languages, states, and budget sizes. But it doesn’t venture into the fantasy realm in ways that aren’t obviously ‘inspired’ by their western counterparts.

The condition of television programming, of course, remains grim. The accomplishments of cinema appear to not yet have found their way to the housewife tales of Indian television. Even though this is the medium in which speculative fiction most finds expression — with shows of people turning into snakes, flies, and other assorted creatures finding sudden fame — the stories remain centred on traditional values of the home, hearth, and heavy make-up. The place for avant garde storytelling then, not surprisingly, is in online video streaming sites both paid and free. What began with comedy (sketch and stand-up) has evolved into more edgy, contemporary, and slick content. As television viewing moves to online streaming, perhaps this is the space from which to expect a Captain Vyom 2.0 soon.