Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya enjoys the 3D film at the inaugural screening on July 1 at BITM. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

The fascination with alien life, of little green men with large heads and humanoid features has lent itself to several representations. Think of the hostile aliens in the X-Files series, the human prototypes in Mission to Mars or the spoof Mars Attacks!

Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), as part of their 3D film screening programme, is showing Alien Adventure, a 21-minute film about a group of aliens who land on earth looking for a new home.

The space travellers send a team to explore the new planet. Only, the spot that they choose to explore is a hi-tech amusement park that is yet to open to the public.

The unfortunate alien sent to test the earth’s environment is strapped to several hi-tech rides where he hurtles through one adventure after another, all simulated of course. Before he knows it, he is sliding through icy Arctic glaciers, escaping narrowly from sharks under water and negotiating near annihilation as he hurtles through an Arabian Nights scenario.

The action, when seen by the leader of the expedition — a stodgy bureaucrat-type, convinces him that the planet’s environment is too extreme for safe inhabitation, and much to the regret of his subordinates, they return to their spaceship to continue their search for a base.

Within its limited scope, the film, touched with humour, is a delight to watch. The aliens, unsightly in appearance, are a cross between the hybrid creatures from Sukumar Ray’s Haw Jaw Ba Ra Law and the little green men. The selling point is the 3D effect, seen with the special glasses provided at the screening, so that the action seems lifelike and rising out of the screen itself.

The cost of tickets is Rs 15 for individuals and Rs 10 each for students in a group.

Forty people can be accommodated per show, with special shows arranged on request. The museum offers subsidised rates. “If you had to pay to watch the films outside, the price of tickets would be no less than Rs 100,” says BITM director Jayanta Sthanapati.

The cost of equipment for the facility is Rs 60 lakh, along with Rs 10 lakh as the license fee that BITM pays the Belgian company New Wave Pictures that makes the movies.

BITM has earlier screened two 3D films, including Mars, with real footage of the red planet, and Bugs, about the lifestyle of a butterfly in an Indonesian rainforest.

“We also make short two-minute 3D films for our projects,” says Sthanapati.

Science City also has a 3D film screening facility, but he claims that “ours is far superior”.

Alien Adventure will be on at BITM through this year.

Romila Saha

SHOUT OUT LOUD

What’s on your mind this week

Stand up against ragging

Various incidents of ragging have often hit the headlines. Ragging, to deluded minds, is a form of self-expression. Last year, in Stephen’s College, Delhi, a first-year student was burnt on his hands and knees when seniors lit a match after spraying deodorant on him. In Jadavpur University, a second-year student was forced to drink kerosene by his seniors.

Although there are anti-ragging bodies in every academic institution, they are mostly ineffective. They should be made more powerful so that strict action can be taken against such mental and physical abuse.

Godhuli Goswami,
Calcutta University

Blogsphere

Forget Orkut, Facebook and other social networking sites, today the denizens of Youngistan are hooked to another form of addiction. Many are creating web pages of their own and filling them up with personal reflections and experiences. One does not have to be Amitabh Bachchan to blog.

Blogging for me was a modest way of saying “I love myself.” But recently, I gave in to the temptation and created my own blog, hoping to leave my unique imprint in virtual space. But much to my distress, I found that every other person wants to make his/her presence felt in the blogsphere. Many bloggers were actually poor writers who are just following a trend. In fact the most creative aspect of these blogs is their design.

A blogger friend had advised me not to post anything that I considered worthy of being published, for fear of plagiarism.

Neither am I sure whether its safe to write anything that might hold a mirror to my inner strife. Given the restrictions, I doubt whether I can be myself in a blog or whether I will be following a fad like the others. But one thing is certain, blogging is indeed a wonderful way of meeting like-minded people with whom you can even foster long-term friendships.

Pranamita Roy,
Calcutta University

THE DIARY

The moon

She may be a common sphere,
But to the earth she is so dear.
She guides the tides,
As she changes sides.
To her we compare a beautiful face,
She is the mistress of grace.
On her, poems were written by one and all
Yet obsession of her may cause your fall.
She bears scars and bruises,
A testimony of the honour she loses.
Still she rides high,
On the Elysian sky.
She is a symbol of romance,
As on the clouds she gracefully does dance,
All beings follow her reign,
At her sight stars go insane.
Lonely is what she seems to be,
Beyond that beauty, her pain can you see?

Cherie,
Class X, Salt Lake School