By Firdaus Ali in Toronto
With Superboys of Malegaon, director Reema Kagti and producer Zoya Akhtar have surely hit gold at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film is based on the life of Nasir Shaikh, an amateur filmmaker from the town of Malegaon. Shaikh, who is also in Toronto and totally amazed at the vibrant buzz and love the film is receiving in this part of the world.
Based on a poignant yet uplifting take on both filmmaking and friendship – and what happens when those two worlds collide,Superboys of Malegaon receives its world premiere at this year’s TIFF and is playing to packed audiences in the Gala Presentations program.
Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, and Reema Kagti under the banners of Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby, the film is directed and co-written by Kagti and is based on a true story and chronicles the life and work of self-made auteur Nasir Shaikh, whose no-budget, community-sourced productions turned his pals into cineastes and his hometown into an unlikely dream factory.
While Akhtar needs no introduction to cinema lovers, Kagti is an Indian writer, producer and director,her directorial ventures include: Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (12), Gold (18), and the TV series Dahaad (23). Superboys of Malegaon (24) is her latest film.
As if the film needed more hype, Amazon MGM Studios, the US and Canadian distributors of the film hosted a South Asian House Panel at Toronto’s Shangri La hotel with the cast and crew of the film, which included Reema Kagti (director), Zoya Akhtar (producer), Varun Grover (co-writer, screenplay) actors Adarsh Gourav ,Vineet Kumar Singh and Shashank Arora and Malegaon’s very own Nasir Shaikh.
Helmed by Kagti, the film is an inspiring ode to tenacity, self-actualization, and the sheer fun of filmmaking. The film is about the one who dared to dream. It’s about hope, honesty, inspiration and overcoming it all.
And, for Nasir Shaikh who flew all the way from Malegaon to Toronto, he is happy that a film about his dreams is shown in a city like Toronto. “Ab mujhe zindagi se koi shikayat nahi,” he says with a shy smile.
“The film manages to break barriers at many levels. It’s a tender, sweet love story made by the jaded, cynical filmmakers from Mumbai,” quips Kagti as she talks about the film.
Varun Grover, who co-wrote the film with Kagti, says the film is about the human spirit. “Most Indians grow up with two dreams. To become an actor or a cricketer. Who really grows up wanting to be an engineer?. .And, in a life riddled with challenges, when there’s no logic, there’s magic. That’s what Superboys of Malegaon is all about. The magic of dreaming. The magic of filmmaking. The magic of becoming whoever you want to be.”
The film has definitely put Malegaon, a small city some 300 kilometers away from Mumbai, on the global map, it has also given Malegaon its own larger-than-life character in the film. Audiences get to see Nasir’s home city in its unique flavour. ”It is a place where Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are famous due to the city residents’ love for cinema,” quips Gourav, who plays Nasir with great great precision..
Arora, who was seen in films like Lipstick Under My Burkha and Manto, gets to play Nasir’s friend and eventually gets to be Superman, who is dubbed as jaadoo ka pancchi in the film. He looks for stories that have depth and meaning over those that are merely commercially viable. “I am always looking for stories with a soul over salability and those who love telling them,” says Arora passionately.
Circa to the film Superboys of Malegaon and its storyline. It’s 1997, and movie-mad Nasir (Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger) is certain he’s destined for cinematic greatness, but great cinema never came out of his humdrum hometown of Malegaon. Nasir gets his first taste of success screening mashups of Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan action sequences, leading him toward a bright idea: if Malegaon moviegoers love revisiting the classics, wouldn’t they flock to see classics reimagined on their own turf?
Borrowing gear from a wedding videographer and assembling a cast and crew of locals, Nasir sets out to remake Ramesh Sippy’s beloved 1975 film Sholay. Nasir’s campy, go-for-broke vision is a regional smash, and a glittering new road seems to open before him. But his journey will prove arduous, requiring him to check his ego and recognize that the friendships that helped him start making movies were essential to their magic.
The film follows Nasir and his buddies over several years, tracking their joys, sorrows, and twists of fate. Brimming with comedy, adventure, and colourful characters, the film is a testament to the wonders that can be achieved when imagination is matched with resourcefulness, loyalty, and lots of love.
The film unfolds the story of the residents of the town who look to Bollywood cinema for a much needed escape from daily drudgery. Nasir gets inspired to make a film for the people of Malegaon, by the people of Malegaon. He bands together his ragtag group of friends to bring his vision to life, thereby bringing a fresh lease of life into the town.
With a great storyline and all the media hype and love the film is receiving, Superboys of Malegaon seems predestined to become a box office hit.
A film that will surely be a jaadoo ka panchhi for the filmmakers and its entire team!
