‘Superboys of Malegaon’ Review: A Raucous Bollywood Crowd-pleaser

Following a group of small-town, DIY Indian filmmakers, Reema Kagti‘s “Superboys of Malegaon” is a moving crowd-pleaser that constantly reaffirms its importance through its central theme. Although the film, which is based on real events, often tries to cover too much ground, it continually circles back to the idea that people must see themselves reflected in art, not just out of want, but out of deep desire stemming from need, in order to live with dignity.

Spanning events from 1997 through the early 2010s, the Bollywood biopic primarily follows photographer and wedding videographer Nasir Sheikh (Adarsh Gourav), a lovelorn man in the tiny city of Malegaon, whose few-hundred-mile distance from Mumbai, India’s financial and cinematic capital, may as well be measured in lightyears. Nasir runs a failing movie theater with his older brother Nihal (Gyanendra Tripathi), where he insists on showing Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin classics rather than the latest Bollywood fare, even if it means losing customers. What Nasir really wants is to be a filmmaker, a journey that begins by splicing together action movies from various eras and countries to create his own amusing montages for the public, though these screenings are eventually shut down on piracy grounds.

With friends and eager cohorts in tow, Nasir soon starts up a shoestring-budget production parodying “Sholay,” the ubiquitous Bollywood classic, albeit with local flair in order to reflect Malegaon’s humor, its people and its sensibilities. This process-oriented section of the film takes up its first half, paving the way for Nasir’s local success, as well as for his ensuing arrogance, which leads to falling-outs with several of his teammates, including his principled screenwriter Farogh (Vineet Singh). All the while, Nasir’s loyal best friend Shafique (Shashank Arora), a wannabe actor and mill worker, sticks by his side. This dovetails into the film’s latter half, in which Shafique suddenly becomes a major focus, sidelining Nasir and Farogh in the process, when he ought to have been a co-lead all along.

This structural awkwardness stems from the film trying to portray every major event in its subjects’ lives, even though the 2012 documentary on which it’s based, Faiza Ahmad Khan’s “Supermen of Malegaon,” only covers one specific parody production of “Superman: The Movie” shot in the late 2000s, after the far-flung friends are forced to reconcile. While the biopic doesn’t delve into the local communal tensions touched on by the documentary (a reason the real Nasir cites for his creative endeavors), that the movie’s characters are mostly Muslim, at a time when rampant cinematic propaganda dehumanizes Indian Muslims, is affirming enough.

In adding years of context to each decision leading up to this superhero spoof, Varun Grover’s script also adds indelible (and tragic) context to the documentary, as well as the parody film it portrays, while transforming the film’s own tale of scrappy creativity into a spiritually moving look at the meaning of cinematic images, and the immortality they offer. Its shattering climax makes for a wonderful complement to Spanish maestro Victor Erice’s recent comeback, “Close Your Eyes,” which is no easy feat.  

Although its broken bonds mend far too quickly, the movie’s feel-good drama is immediately absorbing, thanks to its accomplished cast of actors who, while known to Indian audiences (and in Gourav’s case, to Western viewers via Netflix’s “The White Tiger”) are not major stars. This helps retain the movie’s grounded feel. The performances walk a fine line between Bollywood’s melodrama and the naturalism of India’s “parallel” cinema, which ensures the characters’ interpersonal conflicts simmer at a constant boil, but remain deeply human and familiar. While a good chunk of the humor is based on references to “Sholay” — understandably, given how central this parody is to its story — even viewers unfamiliar with the Hindi blockbuster are likely to latch onto the characters’ starry-eyed artistic ambitions, despite their humble beginnings.

There’s also a sly meta-textual element to this “Sholay” centricity. “Superboys of Malegaon” was produced by “The Archies” director Zoya Akhtar and “Dil Chahta Hai” director Farhan Akhtar, the children of “Sholay” co-screenwriter Javed, who also penned the lyrics for the background songs heard in Kagti’s film. The Akhtars have long been an industry family, but “Superboys” feels like a reciprocal tribute to a band of outsiders who once used Javed’s work to kickstart their creative journeys.

The result is a moving ode to filmmaking that overcomes its lopsided structure and rushed reconciliations through the sheer power of Kagti’s intimate moments. These feel downright enormous by the time the movie wraps up. And, in watching “Superboys of Malegaon” with the right audience — such as the excited, largely Indian crowd at the film’s Toronto premiere — another meta layer emerges too. There’s much cheering and whistling portrayed on screen, as the movie’s townspeople become immersed in cinema catered to their needs. After a point, those raucous reactions blend with those of the viewers in the theater, resulting in a rare form of emotional immersion stemming from community. Few films have been as adept at capturing why people still go to the movies.