Superboys of Malegaon gets the real-reel balance spot-on!

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To be sure, it is not a story coined from imagination but absolutely real: Superboys of Malegaon is not your commercial entertainer in the way it is made and presented. But oddly enough, it is about the commercial entertainers Mumbai spins out—the Sholay’s and the Shaan’s, for example. And finally, an international one—Superman!

And that is why a 2008 documentary, which won multiple awards around the globe, was named Supermen of Malegaon. It described this whole disarming saga of friendship and frustration, ambition and antagonism, and triumph and tribulations, and now it is expanded into a partly dramatized version that details this fascinating real-life sequence of events.

For those unaware, this true story is about a motley group of youngsters—the younger brother Nasir Shaikh (Adarsh Gourav) of a video parlor owner, Nihal (Gyanendra Tripathi), who is a mad film buff. After a police raid on their parlor, which in 1997 obviously shows pirated films, Nasir decides that enough is enough: he will make his own films and no one can raid his premises anymore.

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He assembles his group of friends and after initial cynicism from them, concocts a movie that is a spoof on Sholay along with them. Among them are writer Farogh (Vineet Kumar Singh), a camera owner, Akram (Anuj Singh Duhan) and Nadeem (Anmol Khajani). His closest friend is Shafique (Shashank Arora), who is almost like his devotee. Farogh is disgruntled when Nasir does not take his original story, but Nasir promises that he will do so the next time. Their first effort should be a comedy, he maintains, to bring in the audience.

The boys face many challenges even as they decide not to let anything get them down. Malegaon Ke Sholay finally releases and it’s a singular moment of triumph for them all as the shows keep increasing. Money has been raised with difficulty but things now become easier. And by 2004, this “cottage industry” of making cinema is set.

Alongside, however, come the personal misadventures and conflicts. After Malegaon Ke Sholay, Nasir wants Farogh to write another pulpy entertainer and a clash ensues as Farogh reminds him of his promise. Nasir challenges his friend to go to Mumbai and get his story sold.

Due to his uncertain future, Nasir’s love, Mallika (Riddhi Kumar) has also been married off to someone else, but Shabina (Musskaan Jafferi), who has always loved Nasir, marries him. And after his success, Nasir does get a shade selfish and thus antagonizes his friends, especially Akram.

Soon, an original slightly bigger film he makes (because a maverick named Asif Albela, played by Yash Yogendra, backs him, flops, and Nasir and his brother decide to convert their parlor into a café to cover the losses. And then one day, Shafique is diagnosed with cancer and is severely depressed as he will die without achieving anything at all. Farogh has also returned from Mumbai without getting a break. And Nasir decides that he will make them all, including Shafique, fly high again. His magnum opus, based on Farogh’s script, will be Malegaon Ka Superman. For this, his friends now rally around him. And Shafique passes on, an achiever, for Nasir has ensured that his friend has flown high in the film thanks to the green screen!

Since this story has actually taken place, it will be silly to consider what is shown as illogical. Nasir is said to be still around and is refusing offers to leave Malegaon, where his films usually made six times their cost! Some dramatization licenses were definitely taken by director Reema Kagti, though, only for boosting the emotional voltage.

Again, some portions give a stretched feeling and I think that such a narration should have had a crisper under-120 minute length rather than the 141 minutes we get. The performances are all topnotch, with every one of the abovementioned characters showing extraordinary acting skills, which is also due to the script, the lines and the director.

In the review above, I forgot to mention Trupti, the heroine of their movies, whose troubled life as a wife and a mother who finally leaves her husband as she loves Shafique, add a poignant layer to the story. Manjiri Pupala stands out in this layered role.

The most exhilarating sequences in the film include those where a rickshaw with covers must serve as Trupti’s make-up room, the serious squabble between Nasir and Farogh, the final meeting between Mallika and Nasir, and the rehearsals and auditions the friends have when casting Malegaon Ki Sholay.

Technically, the film is extraordinary in its earthiness (Malegaon is a small town in Maharashtra) with full marks to the DOP (Swapnil Sonavane), production designer (Sally White), costume designer (Bhawana Sharma) and the VFX and DI. Sachin-Jigar’s songs do not register, but the background music is decent.

With subtle messages galore in its realistic script, Superboys of Malegaon is a tribute to the human spirit of these small-town men of humble origins who never let nothing come in the way of their dreams—or friendship.

Rating: ***1/2

Excel Entertainment’s & Tiger Baby Productions’ Superboys of Malegaon Produced by: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti  Directed by: Reema Kagti Written by: Reema Kagti, Varun Grover & Shoaib Zulfi Nazeer Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, Vineet Kumar Singh, Musskaan Jaferi, Manjiri Pupala, Anmol Khajani, Gyanendra Tripathi, Yash Yogendra, Anuj Singh Duhan, Pallav Singgh, Sp. App.: Riddhi Kumar & others

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