‘Supermen of Malegaon’ is a documentary about an Indian version of “Wakaliwood” that exists in the bustling town of Malegaon, Maharashtra. It’s a light-hearted film about a bunch of amateur filmmakers trying to parody the movie ‘Superman’ that also manages to touch upon deeper topics such as poverty, oppression of women and the reality of chasing a career in the film industry.
The first impression of Malegaon is of a film-crazy town with a homegrown movie industry, which makes parodies like ‘Malegaon ki Sholay’ and ‘Malegaon ki Shaan’.The rest of the movie is about the making of their biggest project yet ‘Malegaon ki Superman’.Malegaon’s bleaker side is also explored while the power loom factories which drive the local economy are shown rattling on in the background.
We’re slowly introduced to the characters taking up this project. The director Sheikh Nasir owns a clothes showroom that used to be a video parlour. The lead actor Ashfique has, unfortunately, had to return to his job back at the power-loom. Akram Khan who plays the villain, and has also written the film, works as a photographer and edits movies on Windows Media Player. Farogh Jafri longs for a move to Mumbai to work in Bollywood.
The filming of the movie begins and the documentary is aptly able to capture the madness on the set. The lack of a big budget is compensated with sheer passion and effort put into the filming of each scene. “We’re fighting a war without weapons. And winning too!” says one of the characters. The
Having said that, it’s not all sunshine and rain in the town of Malegaon. A man with a lot of fairness cream applied to his face and dressed in a saree plays a woman because they couldn’t hire an actress, the reason being that women are not allowed to work in their community. There are scenes where the people share their problems working the mind-numbing power loom jobs. One of the highlights of the documentary is a hauntingly beautiful poem of a resident asking the moon to go away from their poverty-stricken Malegaon as they don’t deserve it.
Overall the movie is an amazing testament to the creative desire that lives within all of us. If someone with very few resources is so motivated to go out and create something he’s so passionate about, what’s stopping the most of us?
That’s a question I and some others have to ask ourselves.
Watch the full documentary on YouTube
