Nitish Roy to direct Bengali sci-fi thriller

Kolkata: Nitish Roy, the renowned art director of Hindi films, is making a film on extra- terrestrials in Bengali. `Mahakaash Kando` (Cosmic Happenings), which revolves around outer space and the creatures living in it, will be a visual extravaganza, Roy, who is making his third Bengali film in a year, told reporters. Satyajit Ray had first tried to make `The Aliens`, an Indo-American production under Columbia Pictures, but it failed to take off in 1967. The script of `The Aliens` was based on a short story, written by Ray, "Bankubabur Bandhu" and it is widely belived that Spielberg`s `ET` was inspired by Ray`s script. The veteran art director said "Mahakash Kando" would introduce the genre into Tollygunge which had not explored it before, though its counterpart in Mumbai came out with "Koi Mil Gaya" and "Ra One". Roy, who had worked with names like Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Govind Nihlani, Rajkumar Santoshi, Mira Nair in the past, said, "We intend to use a lot of CGI (computer generated graphics) and pyrotechniques." The film, produced by Pratigya Media, will have a staggering number of 85 actors - many in the roles of aliens - with Victor Banerjee cast in the lead. "Victorda was the perfect choice for the role of a space scientist with his looks, mannerism and personality. And he seemed to have liked the script which I narrated to him," Roy said. The three-time National Award winner Roy, whose `Gosainbaganer Bhoot` was a runaway success a few months back, said, "I aim to offer to the audience a new variety, different from the regular romance, drama and action flicks." PTI