SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON: 3 STARS. “underdog story with humour and heart.”
SYNOPSIS: “Superboys of Malegaon,” a new feelgood Hindi language biopic now playing in theatres, is based on the true story of an amateur filmmaker who would stop at nothing to see his vision on the screen.
CAST: Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar SingH, Shashank Arora, Anuj Singh Duhan, Riddhi Kumar. Directed by Reema Kagti.
REVIEWS: Inspired by true events, and a 2008 documentary called “Supermen of Malegaon,” this is a crowd-pleasing underdog story with humour and heart.
A movie about the power of storytelling, “Superboys of Malegaon” stars Adarsh Gourav as wedding videographer Nasir. On the side he plays classic Hollywood pictures for the small handful of friends and family who show up to his movie nights.
His Charlie Chaplin screenings may not draw crowds, but when his mash-up of a Bollywood movie with some American blockbusters proves popular, he comes up with the idea of making his own versions of popular movies.
With a ragtag group of friends, including screenwriter Farogh (Vineet Singh), Nasir is on the way to becoming a Malegaonian Roger Corman but egos and money get in the way of his dreams of making his own films. But later a change of fortune brings the gang back together to create their magnum opus, a superhero movie based on their lives.
At just over two hours “Superboys of Malegaon” has down moments, including a long marriage section, but the uplift of the story, mixed with comedy, drama and tragedy, carries the day.
In the Hindi language with subtitles, it’s also a statement on the movie business. The movie Nasir and his friends make is a superhero template, that, in context to the film, is charming and life-affirming, but imitative in its execution. “Superboys of Malegaon” seems to live by the credo, “Give the people what they want,” originality be damned, but it’s also about the power of movies as an artform to build community. It’s a lovely notion, coupled with the importance of representation in art and the joy that movies can bring that makes up for the film’s narrative shortcomings.
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