World UFO Day: These six films will introduce you to alien species, spaceships

Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs have intrigued humans for several centuries The oddity and mystery that surrounds them and the aliens potentially inside them has inspired many scientists ufologists and conspiracy theorists to research them restlesslyJuly 2 is celebrated as World UFO Day every year to commemorate the Roswell crash which occurred in New Mexico US The crash was reportedly of a US Army Air Forces weather balloon but conspiracy theories believe that it was a flying saucer and the balloon crash was only a coverup by the governmentWhile there are many UFO enthusiasts who are busy studying them every day these objects have also served as a muse for cinema resulting in scifi films made in several languagesFeaturing crashlanding aliens or organised invasions here is a mix of popular and littleknown movies from India and abroad that you could watch if you are looking to explore this genreET The ExtraTerrestrial 1982When one talks about UFOs and aliens it is impossible to not think of this classic from the late 20th century For many 80s and 90s kids this Steven Spielberg film was the first introduction to the extraterrestrial world of aliens and spaceships Being Spielbergrsquos brainchild the story follows Elliott a boy who becomes friends with an alien called ET who is stranded on Earth After its release it was the highestgrossing film of all time and was only surpassed by Jurassic Park 1993 another Spielberg film It also won four Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards in 1983Watch on NetflixKalai Arasi 1963As many people around the world were experimenting with a variety of scifi plots Tamil cinema produced its own classic in the form of Kalai Arasi The 1963 film was directed by A Kasilingam and starred MG Ramachandran and Bhanumathi The film revolves around a farmer Mohan and Vani the daughter of a rich landlord who fall in love with each other However therersquos trouble as two aliens are travelling to Earth in a UFO to look for an artist who could teach their planet song and dance Their planet has made a lot of development but lacks the expertise in the performing arts and after analysing various options they hear Vanirsquos melodious voice and take her back in their spaceship This is only the start as what follows is complex plot to rescue Vani to bring her back after several tense encounters with aliensWatch on MX PlayerIndependence Day 1996A little over 14 years after ET the Jeff GoldblumWill Smithstarrer Independence Day turned out to be another favourite among audiences around the globe The plot revolves around a group of people who meet in the Nevada desert in the US after an unknown extraterrestrial race attacks the Earth It also introduced the world to a mothership which releases 15 other spaceships who carry out an attack on major cities around the world In one of the many films to feature Smith in the scifi genre it surpassed Twister and Tom Cruisersquos Mission Impossible to become the highest grossing film that year The film also won the Oscar for the best visual effects in 1997 The film has a sequel called Independence Day Resurgence which was released in 2016Watch on HotstarPatalghar 2003While most people know of many Hollywood scifi films depicting aliens and their UFOs India has quite a few of its own and Patalghar is one of them The Bengali science fiction film is directed by Abhijit Chowdhury and is based on a story by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay It revolves around scientist Aghor Sen who creates a sleepinducing device and puts an alien who lands on Earth after being exiled from his planet Nyapcha to sleep However the situation goes awry after Senrsquos death as the device gets lost Cut to 150 years later after a diary mentioning about it is discovered everybody including the alien Vik who has now woken up wants to get their hands on it However it is not that easy as it is in Senrsquos laboratory and one needs to solve a puzzle to enter itWatch on Zee5Arrival 2016If you are a scifi movie fan this Jeremy RennerAmy Adams starrer is definitely worth a watch The film is based on a short story called lsquoStory of Your Lifersquo written by Ted Chiang in 1998 It is about an American linguist who has been given the job of finding a way to communicate with aliens who have landed on Earth With as many as 12 spaceships which appear in different locations this film takes scifi buffs on a journey which involves tension between the two species that eventually leads to war The film was nominated in several categories for the 89th Academy Awards and won for Best Sound EditingWatch on NetflixRocket Girl 1962Directed by Nanabhai Bhatt Rocket Girl is one of the early scifi films in Bollywood featuring Sudesh Kumar Naaz and Shammi among others The plot is centred on Professor Bharadwaj whose space mission takes off after he saves Mumbaikars from a monster arrives in the city on a UFO The professor and his team are responsible for killing the monster and this in turn helps them get permission to travel to outer space on a rocket The team lands on an unknown planet with an evil queen who takes them in as prisoners They are able to return after one of the queenrsquos maids helps them escape back to EarthAlso Read How do influencers deal with the pressure to keep creating content