Small town India’s DIY film industry comes to London

The bright lights of the British capital are a world away from Malegaon, a down-at-heel textile town in the backwaters of Maharashtra state in western India.

But the two have come together at this year’s London Film Festival, where the remarkable story of Malegaon’s unlikely film industry success has had its European premiere.

“Superboys of Malegaon”, by director and producer Reema Kagti, follows the true story of Shaikh Nasir and his friends and their no-budget parodies of Bollywood and Hollywood classics such as “Sholay” and “Superman”.

With DIY filmmaking techniques, amateur actors and the unique flavour of local dialect and comedy, his works became instant local hits.

They then gained international recognition with the release of a 2008 documentary of their work, “Supermen of Malegaon”.

Malegaon’s links to the giant Hindi-language film industry, though, are not so distant. By a twist of fate, co-producer Zoya Akhtar’s father Javed Akhtar wrote “Sholay”, which inspired Nasir’s passion for filmmaking.

“It’s a very, very big story from a very small town in India”, Akhtar told AFP in an interview. “It tells you how connected you are, especially with cinema.”

“Nasir’s influences and my influences are very similar”, added Kagti.

“So it was really like a privilege to be able to give a hat tip to so many people, so many actors, so much of the Indian film industry.”

‘Dream factory’

“Superboys” is an ode to the determination of Nasir, played by Adarsh Gourav, who featured in the Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize-winning novel “The White Tiger”.

In Malegaon, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) from India’s entertainment capital Mumbai, video parlours — small picture houses — are a haven for labourers keen to escape the daily slog of industrial weaving looms.

Nasir’s films offer comedic respite and a chance to see their town portrayed on the big screen, said Kagti.

“Every person who was part of that film has been immortalised and has been made into a hero of sorts, and it’s given them a reason to not just exist but to celebrate life,” added Gourav.

With no budget and little experience beyond his love for films and gigs as a wedding videographer, Nasir has to improvise and use homespun techniques to make movies.

While filming the Superman spoof, the hero dresses in comical red shorts with drawstrings dangling out, flying with the help of wacky green-screen contraptions while Nasir films tracking shots by balancing on the back of a truck hurtling down a bumpy road.

Global audience

“Superboys” touches upon everything from poverty to love, never straying far from Nasir’s unwavering belief in the power of a camera — and some imagination — to turn the mundane into something extraordinary.

“The story is so universal that we feel there is a global audience,” said executive producer Ritesh Sidhwani.

The film has already been shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and with its screening in London, Sidhwani hopes it will attract audiences beyond the Indian diaspora.

Nasir’s homemade local films succeeded in creating a place in India’s sometimes impenetrable film industry for Malegaon.

Akhtar said it is a lesson for everyone, particularly in a world of smartphones, where everyone can be a film-maker.

“People who watch this film will realise that they don’t need to wait for a big break… They can just take that step,” she added.

Today, “Mollywood” as it is sometimes called, lives on, with some actors from the original films continuing in Nasir’s footsteps, sharing their DIY creations on platforms such as YouTube.

“That industry is now a part of Indian cinema’s history”, said Akhtar.

In “Superboys”, the writer of the spoofs, Farogh, tells Nasir: “You told our stories, in our own voices… You gave us dreamers a place in history.”

“In the history of Indian cinema, you’ve added a page for Malegaon.”