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{{About|the unproduced Indian film|the 1979 film|Alien (film)|other uses|Alien (disambiguation){{!}}Alien}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Alien
| director = [[Satyajit Ray]]
| producers = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| writer = Satyajit Ray
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Peter Sellers]]
* [[Marlon Brando]]
}}
| music = Satyajit Ray
| distributor = Columbia Pictures
| country = India-United States
| language = Bengali
}}
'''''The Alien''''' was an unproduced Indian-American [[science fiction film]] in development in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. It was to be directed by [[Cinema of India|Indian]] filmmaker [[Satyajit Ray]] and co-produced by [[Columbia Pictures]]. The script was written by Ray in 1967, loosely based on '''''Bankubabur Bandhu''''' (''Banku Babu's Friend'' or ''Mr. Banku's Friend''), a [[Bengali science fiction]] story he had written in 1962 for ''[[Sandesh (magazine)|Sandesh]]'', the Ray family magazine, which gained popularity among [[Bengali people|Bengalis]] in the early 1960s. ''Bankubabur Bandhu'' was eventually adapted into a [[television film]] by Satyajit Ray's son [[Sandip Ray]], and a play by the theatre group Swapnasandhani [[Kaushik Sen]], in 2006.<ref name=eventsbengaluru/>

==Plot==
The plot revolves around a spaceship that lands in a pond in rural [[Bengal]]. The villagers begin worshiping it as a temple risen from the depths of the earth. The alien, known as "Mr Ang", establishes contact with a young village boy named Haba (meaning "Dumb" in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]) through dreams and also plays a number of pranks on the village community in the course of its short stay on planet [[Earth]]. The plot contains the ebullient presence of an [[India]]n businessman, a journalist from [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] and an [[United States|American]] engineer.

Ray's biographer [[W. Andrew Robinson]] describes one particular scene from the screenplay as follows: "In a series of fantastically quick, short steps over the lotus leaves, the Alien reaches the shore of the pond. He looks down at the grass, examines the blade and is off hopping into the bamboo grove. There the Alien sees a small plant. His eyes light up with a yellow light. He passes his hand over the plant, and flowers come out. A thin, soft high-pitched laugh shows the Alien is pleased."<ref>{{cite news|title=Home is where the art is|date=8 August 1997|newspaper=[[The Times]]|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=159943&sectioncode=6|accessdate=2009-06-02}}</ref>

==Production==
''The Alien'' had [[Columbia Pictures]] as producer for this planned US–India co-production, and [[Peter Sellers]] and [[Marlon Brando]] acting in lead roles. However, Ray was surprised to find that the script he had written had already been [[copyright]]ed and the fee appropriated by Michael Wilson, a Colombo-based producer who acted as Ray's representative in Hollywood.<ref name=newslaundry>{{cite news|title=Did Steven Spielberg plagiarise Satyajit Ray’s The Alien?|date=18 April 2018|newspaper=[[Newslaundry]]|url=https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/06/16/did-steven-spielberg-plagiarise-satyajit-rays-the-alien|accessdate=2021-06-12}}</ref> Wilson had copyrighted the script as co-writer, despite not being involved in any way in its creation. Marlon Brando later dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring [[James Coburn]] in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta. Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 1970s and 1980s but nothing came of it.

==Legacy==
When the film ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' was produced in 1982, Ray noted similarities in the movie to his own earlier script. Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' feature, with further details revealed by his biographer [[W. Andrew Robinson|Andrew Robinson]] (in ''The Inner Eye'', 1989). Ray claimed that [[Steven Spielberg]]'s film "would not have been possible without my script of ''The Alien'' being available throughout America in [[mimeograph]]ed copies." When the issue was raised by the press, Spielberg denied this claim and said "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood."<ref name=timesofindia>{{cite news|title=Close encounters with native E.T. finally real|date=5 April 2003|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/42443247.cms|accessdate=2009-03-24}}</ref> ''Star Weekend Magazine'' disputes Spielberg's claim, pointing out that he had graduated from high school in 1965 and began his career as a director in Hollywood in 1969.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Perceptions: Satyajit Ray and The Alien!|first=Obaidur|last=Rahman|journal=Star Weekend Magazine|volume=8|issue=70|date=22 May 2009|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/05/04/perceptions.htm|accessdate=2009-05-31}}</ref> ''The Times of India'' noted that ''E.T.'' and ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' (1977) had "remarkable parallels" with ''The Alien''.<ref name=timesofindia/><ref>{{cite web|title=Satyajit Ray Collection Receives Packard Grant and Lecture Endowment|date=2001-09-17|publisher=[[University of California Santa Cruz]]|url=http://www1.ucsc.edu/currents/01-02/09-17/ray.html|accessdate=2014-11-10}}</ref> These parallels include the physical nature of the alien. In his screenplay, which Ray wrote entirely in English, he described the alien as "a cross between a gnome and a famished refugee child: large head, spindly limbs, a lean torso. Is it male or female or neuter? We don't know. What its form basically conveys is a kind of ethereal innocence, and it is difficult to associate either great evil or great power with it; yet a feeling of eeriness is there because of the resemblance to a sickly human child."<ref>Ray, Satyajit. ''The Chess Players and Other Screenplays''. London: Faber and Faber, 1989, p. 145. {{ISBN|0-571-14074-2}}</ref>

The 2003 [[Bollywood]] film ''[[Koi... Mil Gaya]]'', directed by [[Rakesh Roshan]], appears to be based on Satyajit Ray's ''The Alien''. In particular, the film appears to parallel ''The Alien'' more closely than ''E.T.'' in that it revolves around an [[intellectual disability|intellectually disabled]] person coming in contact with a friendly alien.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/1884-Boyhood-and-the-alien--E.T.-and-Koi-Mil-Gaya.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722232359/http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/1884-Boyhood-and-the-alien--E.T.-and-Koi-Mil-Gaya.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-22|title=Boyhood and the alien: E.T. and Koi Mil Gaya|date=2012-07-22|access-date=2020-02-21}}</ref>

In 2003, Satyajit Ray's son [[Sandip Ray]] began working on adapting Ray's original 1962 story ''Bankubabur Bandhu'' into a [[Cinema of West Bengal|Bengali]] [[television movie]] of the same name.<ref name=timesofindia/> The adapted film, directed by [[Kaushik Sen]], was eventually shown on [[television in India]] in 2006. This version is based on Ray's original story ''Bankubabur Bandhu'' where the protagonist was a school teacher named Banku Babu, in contrast to his script for ''The Alien'' where the protagonist was a boy named Haba.<ref name=eventsbengaluru>{{cite web|title=BANKUBABUR BANDHU & SAMUDRER MOUNA at Rangashankara|publisher=Events Bangalore|date=11 October 2006|url=http://eventsbengaluru.com/2006/10/11/bankubabur-bandhu-samudrer-mouna-at-rangashankara|accessdate=2009-03-24|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710205633/http://eventsbengaluru.com/2006/10/11/bankubabur-bandhu-samudrer-mouna-at-rangashankara/|archivedate=10 July 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite web
| author= Neumann P
| publisher=Internet Movie Database Inc
| url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006249/bio
| title=Biography for Satyajit Ray
| accessdate=2006-04-29
}}
*{{cite news
|author = Newman J
|url = http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/01-02/09-17/ray.html
|title = Satyajit Ray Collection receives Packard grant and lecture endowment
|publisher = UC Santa Cruz Currents online
|date = 2001-09-17
|accessdate = 2006-04-29
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20051104203511/http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/01-02/09-17/ray.html
|archivedate = 4 November 2005
|df = dmy-all
}}
*{{cite web
|publisher = Satyajit Ray Society
|url = http://www.worldofray.com/raysfilmography/unmaderay.aspx
|title = The Unmade Ray
|accessdate = 2006-11-04
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20061108060113/http://www.worldofray.com/raysfilmography/unmaderay.aspx
|archivedate = 8 November 2006
|df = dmy-all
}}

{{Satyajit Ray}}
{{E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alien, The}}
[[Category:Bengali-language literature]]
[[Category:Indian-American films]]
[[Category:Cancelled films]]
[[Category:Films involved in plagiarism controversies]]
[[Category:Unproduced screenplays]]
[[Category:Indian science fiction films]]

The Alien (unproduced film) - Revision history

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