A revenge of the fifth: Recovering the lost ‘antriksh ke veer’ through AI
Star Wars Day. You must have waved your light sabres and greeted each other with the traditional line, ‘May the Fourth be with you.’ But the card-holding Jedis among you will know that today, May 5, is when you greet each other with ‘Revenge of the Fifth!’
Because as Phuket-based German AI artist Oliver Huber knows, it’s today that production of an unfinished George Lucas meets — Manmohan Desai space opera-Bollywood cult classic started production. As Huber writes, ‘What most people don’t know: In 1974, Indian Bollywood director Rajat Kumar started filming ‘Antriksh Ke Veer’ (Space Heroes). Sadly, the project was shelved due to budget constraints. The script was later sold to an American guy called George for 500 rupees.’ Huber is custodian to iconic images from the never-released cult classic. There’s the Harrison Ford-resembling swashbuckling Hari Solan, captain of the ramshackle space freighter Millennial Fantoosh trying out some inner peace in a loud satsang. Hari’s ‘mardangi moustache’ makes him the bumbling action veer of this film.
There’s Lokesh Saiwalker, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Mark Hamill from Star Wars – wielding, no, not a light sabre, but a cricket bat as he tackles the Dark Side. Darth Gabbar is seen frolicking with the village belles, while Princess Leela – the resemblance to Carrie Fisher is uncanny – is the garrulous, spunky ladki burning up the kitchen in a benarasi in one image, and nursing a hangover by having more daaru in another.
And then there’s everyone’s favourite Wookie,
