Sci-fi genre not for untrained filmmakers: Anubhav Sinha

He took up the herculean task of directing "Ra.One", one of India's most technologically well-backed movies. But Anubhav Sinha 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.

"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 here.

"To make such films, the mind of the filmmaker should be tuned like that and he or she 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 Saturday at the ongoing 14th Mumbai Film Festival here.

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 visuals 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.

Sinha was accompanied by American film producer Gary Kurtz, whose list of credits includes "American Graffiti", "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back". He said he found inspiration for sci-fi movies from various novels that he had read.