What happens when an acclaimed filmmaker and a space engineer get together to talk about extraterrestrial life, cinema, and their shared appreciation Steven Spielberg? This specific question was answered by the Society of Intellectuals last week, when they organized a panel discussion for Spielberg’s new film Disclosure Day, headlined by National Award-winning filmmaker Ram Madhvani and former NASA engineer Nimisha Mittal.
The discussion, subtitled ‘All will be Revealed’, was held in a cozy bar in Mumbai, and covered everything from the search for extraterrestrial life by scientists to how Spielberg has portrayed it in his five decades of work.
‘We are just waiting for evidence’
Nimisha Mittal worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for more than 15 years, including on the Mars rovers and Cassini Space Orbiter. He explained how seriously the scientific community takes the discovery of alien life. “You don’t always hear about it, but everyone in the scientific community is always hopeful for a connection. We’re just waiting for evidence (of extraterrestrial life). The hope is to find intelligent life. I don’t think we’re sure of that yet,” he said.
‘ET movies are about a sense of belonging’
Ram Madhvani, known for his National Award-winning film Neerja and popular web series Arya, confessed to being a lifelong Spielberg fan. As the conversation ranged from the search for aliens to the culture’s portrayal of it, the filmmaker said, “The basic idea behind movies about the search for life outside Earth is that we’re always looking for someone who can ‘find me’. Even if the people of this world won’t, maybe someone will come from outside. Even today, we are here as a community to connect. The feeling of belonging is what drives these movies. The only reason we find someone there is Trying to find out, maybe they will understand us and our problems.”
Disclosure Day, released last weekend, brings Spielberg, an icon of science fiction, back to his favorite genre and subject. The film tackles the question: are authorities justified in gatekeeping information that could change the world? Madhvani talked about Spielberg’s return to the genre and said, “When he made Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he was probably 35. Now, he’s probably closer to 80. It’s interesting to see how his perspective has changed with respect to aliens and how the world sees them. But what’s constant is that he fills these stories with hope. And I hope that hope continues to carry over into his filmmaking.”
Earth’s ambassador for First Contact?
Finally, the speakers were presented with a scenario similar to the movie: an alien species has arrived, and they must select one person from the world to be the planet’s ambassador for our first contact. Madhvani cheekily replied, “Of course, the society of intellectuals,” which elicited loud laughter and laughter from the audience. Nimisha chose American scientist and TV personality Carl Sagan, who is known for popularizing astronomy in the late 20th century. He said, “Every person in the world is different, they have different experiences, so it would be difficult to pick someone that the whole world would agree with. But the first person that comes to mind is Carl Sagan.”
Disclosure Day, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo, is currently showing in theaters worldwide.