Supermen Of Malegaon review: An endearing look at the aspirations of small-town India

About 280 km northeast of the city of dreams, Mumbai, lies the unassuming town of Malegaon. The textile hub of Maharashtra, which is accustomed to the drone and hum of powerlooms, erupts every Friday with the sound of people clamouring to get inside cinema halls to catch the latest release.

Faiza Ahmad Khan’s observational documentary takes us to this film crazy world where, as one of the residents puts it, people watch films to “trade their dreary reality for a fantasy”.

A town divided into Hindu and Muslim halves, communal tension is a part of Malegaon's troubled history. But a craze for cinema brings people together. One such movie enthusiast, Nasirbhai, is encouraged to make his own films and embarks on the mission of making the first film from Malegaon. The film’s success propels him to set his sights higher and so, taking inspiration from Hollywood, he embarks on his next project — Superman Of Malegaon.

Tracking the making of this movie, the documentary offers a remarkable insight into the hopes and aspirations of small-town India in all its earnestness and simplicity. The supremely talented Nasirbhai is a one-man army, working with a small group of friends to accomplish his dream. Working on the film from start to finish himself, he says, “I didn’t even know there were different departments for each job.”

There are some hilarious moments in the film with an unassuming loom worker being the unusual choice for the main lead in the superhero film being conceptualized as a comedy. Through the challenges and setbacks, we even see the hacks and innovative solutions that foreground local knowledge as the team works to finish its project.

What really stands out, though, is the winsome spirit of the people of Malegaon, who, movingly, recognize the limits of their dreams. As one of the residents says, “We do not have the facilities, still we are making films. That’s what is special.”

There isn’t a dull moment in the documentary which foregrounds the spirit of the inhabitants of this small and unkempt town, who work tirelessly to accomplish their goal, becoming, in the process, the real Supermen Of Malegaon.

Made originally for a TV channel, Supermen Of Malegaon has won several awards at festivals across the world and was released in 2012 in theatres. It won the Audience Choice award for Documentary at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) in 2009 and was part of the virtual showcase of films created by IFFLA during the lockdown.

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