A 2002 flop film featured the first Indian actor playing an android robot, years before Enthiran, Ra.One, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, or Bahu Hamari Rajinikant.
The upcomig romantic comedy Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya brings a unique twist to the usual Bollywood romance. One of the protagonists in the story is actually an android robot. The character is played by Kriti Sanon but it is far from the first depiction of a robot in Indian cinema. In fact, the first happend over 20 years ago, much before Rajinikanth debuted Chitti or Shah Rukh Khan became G.One.
The first Indian actor to play robot on screen
The first depiction of an adroid robot on screen in Indian cinema took place in the 2002 Kannada film Hollywood. Directed by Dinesh Babu, the film starred Upendra in a triple role as a scientist, his twin brother, and a robot created by him. Upendra, thus, became the first Indian actor to play a robot in Indian cinema. The film, made on a budget of Rs 7 crore, was a critical and commercial failure. Critics derided it calling it hilarious and slamming the visual effects. At the box office, it was a below average performer, barely recovering its cost.
Other depictions of robots in Indian cinema and TV
The most iconic depiction of a robot in Indian cinema is arguably that of Rajinikanth’s Chitti in Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018). The plot of the film bore some resemblance to Hollywood as both films involved a robot falling in love with his creator’s love interest and turning into a villain. In 2.0, Amy Jackson also appeared as a robot. The 2011 Bollywood film Ra.One had Shah Rukh Khan and Arjun Rampal as kind of robots, which housed consciousness of video game characters in them. The 2016 Marathi film Phuntroo featured Ketaki Mategaonkar as a robot.
Robots have appeared in Indian television shows as well. The comedy Karishma Ka Karishma was a remake of Small Wonder and featured Jhanak Shukla as the titular android. In 2017, the sitcom Bahu Hamari Rajnikant featured Riddhima Pandit as an android in a plot that many viewers are finding eerily similar to the upcoming Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya.
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