As Indian cinema continues to gain recognition worldwide, it’s still hard to explain the hold it has on those of us who grew up with it.
The intrepid cinephile can always do their research; watch the latest buzzy international feature, check out popular films that are streaming, even judge a book by its cover (a movie by its hit songs). But there’s something at the core of Hindi films especially that is deeply entrenched in culture. Usually I explain it by describing the theater where I watched every new Hindi film from 2005-2009: a suburban Michigan multiplex whose concession counter was flanked by two sacred symbols — a statue of the Hindu god Ganesh, and a framed photo of actor Shah Rukh Khan.
You need to understand that, at least conceptually, to appreciate something like “Superboys of Malegaon,” the true story of film fanatics in the eponymous village who made themselves the heroes of popular films. Nasir (Adarsh Gourav) dreams of moving to Mumbai and becoming a star, but running the local Malegaon screen gets him into editing movies together and spicing up old favorites with cheeky cuts. When the police stop him on grounds of piracy, Nasir and his friends decide to make their own movie — a parody of Ramesh Sippy’s “Sholay” set in Malegaon itself.
Like a “The Fabelmans” or a “Cinema Paradiso,” “Superboys” is rooted in the bond between celluloid and spectator. There’s context there for Bollywood fans — those who know the allure of Madhuri Dixit, the atmosphere of a rowdy theater, or looming details like this film’s producers being the children of a “Sholay” screenwriter — but other parts need no explanation, like the joy Nasir and his friends derive from remixing an all-time classic, and the relationships that grow and strain through that process. It’s a film where references to “Deewaar” and “Shaan” and “Anand” dance alongside those to Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Bruce Lee.
It’s “White Tiger” star Gourav’s second outing with Tiger Baby Productions and Excel Entertainment after 2023’s “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan,” and he carries the film with ease alongside Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora, and the rest of Nasir’s crew. The title betrays the film’s focus on the boys, but it’s still a missed opportunity to highlight some excellent female performers, including Nasir’s sidelined first love Mallika (Riddhi Kumar), astute wife Shabeena (Muskkaan Jaferi), and the effervescent Trupti (Manjiri Pupala) who stars in Malegaon’s “Sholay” adaptation.
Directed by Reema Kagti and written by Varun Grover (with dialogues by Shoaib Nazeer), “Superboys of Malegaon” covers more than a decade of life in the village and how the journey from fan to filmmaker affects Nasir, Farogh (Singh), and Shafique (Arora). Accurate though it is, matching the timeline of reality slows the film down significantly, and dilutes the conflicts to the point of feeling incidental.
But tracking the characters from 1997 to 2010 also illustrates the very mundanity that they want to escape, either by watching films or making them, and by leaving their own mark on cinema. As fun as it is to spend time on set with the boys (and Trupti!), a few glimpses of the Malegaon audience convey the enchantment of seeing themselves on screen and their community in the spotlight. “Superboys” is dedicated those who devour and admire great movies rather than those who make them — and quickly shows that the line between those two categories can be breached if you’re brave enough.
Grade: B
“Superboys of Malegaon” is now playing in theaters.
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