Supercinema of Malegaon

It's been a while since I updated this blog, and somehow a piece about the recently released documentary 

film Supermen of Malegaon seems an appropriate way to resume blogging. Mainly because this film, 

above all, is about the love of cinema and the magic it brings into people's lives in big ways and small.

Supermen of Malegaon is about the making of the feature film Malegaon Ka Superman, a spoof on the 

original Superman series, made by film-maker Shaikh Nasir. Nasir comes across as a one-man industry, 

producing the film, conceptualizing the scenes, pitching in in the dialogue writing, improvizing on the special 

effects and stunt sequences and of course, directing the film as well. The first thing that hits you while 

watching this documentary is the sharp contrast between the escapist nature of this fledgling "film 

industry" and the actual lives of the people here. The film that Nasir is making is larger than life, funny and 

thoroughly entertaining, yet when it comes to lives of the people living in Malegaon, what we see are 

verisons of poverty and abjectness. The making of the film is intersperced with scenes from the power 

looms, which are the main source of income for the men of Malegaon. The monotony of the clanking 

looms signifies the monotony of life here. The situation of the people of Malegaon is captured in the 

poignant poem that the writer of the film, Farokh, recites in one sequence of the film. In his poem, he tells 

the moon to venture away from Malegaon, as there is nothing that the town can offer it. This underlying 

tone of melancholy in the words of a writer seeps into the otherwise humourous tone of the film.

Humour, the director of Malegaon Ka Superman tells us, is eternal. This is the reason why, he says, his 

films are parodies and turn even the most serious moments of the original films into scenes filled with 

laugh-out-loud comedy. It reminds one of a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, where humour could be found in 

the most banal of situations and in the lives of common people. So, not only is film humourous, but its 

humour spills over into the documentary as well, making this one of the most engaging documentaries I 

have seen.

The film also touches upon the gender politics in the town of Malegaon. Strangely, it seems that the love of 

cinema is a love that only the men of the village possess. Right from the crowds outside the movie theatre 

to Nasir's own crew, we see only men. The women seem absent from this world, visible only briefly - in 

one scene we see a woman washing "Superman's" costume. The director of this documentary is a woman 

as well, and when she asks one of the men why women don't work in these films, he unhesitatingly says, 

that women are not allowed to work outside the home. So, a girl is imported from the Dhulia to play 

Superman's love interest, adding "glamour" to the film by dancing with Superman in the title song and 

playing the damsel-in-distress.

What domimates the film as a whole is the love that Nasir and his colleagues share for the moving image. 

There is no big banner, no rich producer, no star actors, no expensive special effects - yet, cinema is 

created. There is no commerce involved here, only a passion for the medium and a desire to entertain and 

enthrall. As cliched as it may sound, this film is about following your heart and also being irrational 

sometimes, if only to achieve your dreams.