from. Maybe, that is why Indian cinema tends to compensate with lots of colors, effects, sets and locations in songs. Songs have been the farthest that Indian cinema has gotten when in comes to fantasy subjects.

That is not to say that Indian cinema has never attempted the concept of fantasy in earnest. The idea of invisibility was used to great success in Mr. India around 20 years back. There was a Hindi movie quite a few years before Mr. India which also dealt with invisibility, but that one never got noticed. There have also been a handful of treasure hunts on screen, none of which left any serious impression. If the memory is right, the last one of the genre to come out of Bollywood was a Sunny Deol-Vivek Oberoi starrer titled Naksha. Currently, there seems to be a trend of ‘see the future’ fantasies which are apparently cutting no ice with the audience as ‘Aa Dekhen Zaraa’andal Kissne Dekha’ will testify. The ‘Sixth Sense’ mould ‘Tasveer 8X10’ too couldn’t hit the sweet spot in spite of getting a free run in theaters due to the producer’s strike.

So, where’s fantasy in Indian cinema? Well, the answer is that it is still very much a fledgling genre to the industry. Tamil cinema by and large has stayed away from fantasy. There have been a few films that have tried hard but not quite qualified for the genre. The closest that Tamil cinema has come to fantasy in the past decade is perhaps ‘Little John’. The concept of shrinking has been used quite a few times in world cinema. The first instance being ‘The Wonderful Voyage’ which later became an Isaac Asimov novel, then there is ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’. Little John was something similar being attempted, but the equation went wrong. It is difficult to recall any other film that could be called a fantasy.

The biggest success that Indian cinema has had in its attempts with fantasy is perhaps ‘My Dear Kuttichathan’. The 1986 3D story of a ‘chathan’ and the 3 kids who were his friends created history. Some would dispute Kuttichathan being called a fantasy, but the track record in this genre is so meager that we would have to give it to Kuttichathan on default. There have been other good films based on ghosts, spirits and the like, but they have been strictly horror or thriller types.

After seeing the first publicity posters of Aayirathil Oruvan a couple of days back, one gets the feeling that Tamil cinema is finally getting its first genuine fantasy adventure. Though not much can be made of the couple of stills that we have seen, it is sure that this film is not the ordinary type. Three figures, silhouetted against backdrop of a huge cave, knee deep in water with objects of all kinds floating around; and they are not stones or pieces of wood; they look like invaluable treasures with ancient idols and statues sticking out from all places. From Selvaraghavan, a director who has till now chosen only to play with emotions of the human mind takes a bold step by tackling a fantasy adventure. Shot over a long period of time, at a generous budget, Aayirathil Oruvan seems to be Tamil cinema’s first genuine fantasy. Let’s hope that fantasy finds its place in the minds of audiences and filmmakers, let’s hope that fantasy is here to stay.