Indradhanush (Photo Credits: YouTube)

The Netflix show Stranger Things has become the cultural phenomenon of entertainment business this decade, much like Game of Thrones. The supernatural sci-fi fantasy show is just much about monsters, as much it is about nostalgia, bonding, friendship and love. Stranger Things, created by the Duffer Brothers, stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery. The show just had its third season a few weeks back and it received better critical acclaim over a divisive second season. Netflix’s Stranger Things 3 Review: The Other-Worldly Adventures of Eleven and Co Just Got Bigger, Funnier and Ickier!

Now, while we rave about Stranger Things and all, did you know that in India, we had a sci-fi based show, centred around teens, that too in the '80s? Not just that, the show starred three big future Bollywood celebs in Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker and Urmila Matondkar?

If not, let me introduce you to the Stranger Things of Indian television that predates much before the Netflix show, but was equally fun - Indradhanush.

Coming out in 1989 and airing on Doordarshan - a time when Indian television was more about content, and less about kitchen politics - Indradhanush was about a group of kids who create a computer. This computer helps them to communicate with an alien Prince. However, they suffer ramifications of this communication, as one of the boys gets kidnapped. It's upto the rest of the gang to find him out using a time travel machine given by the alien Prince.

Indradhanush, created by Aanand Mahendroo, had veteran actors like the late Girish Karnad and Vikram Gokhale in the cast. Television actor Akshay Anand played the kidnapped boy's elder brother, the protagonist, while future Bollywood biggie Karan Johar played one of the boys in the group, along with Vishal Singh of Dekh Bhai Dekh fame. The show dealt with sci-fi themes like extra-terrestrials, futuristic inventions, cloning and time-travel.

In an episode involving time travel, Ashutosh Gowariker, the director of films like Lagaan, Swades and Jodha Akbar, played the younger version of the hero's grandfather a la Back to the Future. Watch that episode below:

In another episode, Urmila Matondkar who was then popular for her child artiste stint in films like Masoom, played the girlfriend of the protagonist's clone.

Watch that episode below:

Indradhanush was quite an iconic show at that time, even though it lasted only 13 episodes. With an early experience of working in sci-fi, we wonder why Karan Johar never attempted to make a movie in that genre. Apart from backing 2.0, of course. Interestingly, Akshay Anand had played the character of Sidharth Malhotra's elder brother in Student of the Year, that was directed by Karan Johar.

Ah, anyway, if some American friend of yours boasts to you about Stranger Things, you can now tell him, 'Been There, Done That!' You can watch the whole season of Indradhanush on YouTube.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2019 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).