Superboys Of Malegaon Review

In a world where cinema is the most international it’s ever been, it’s so important to continue to platform films that showcase cinephiles outside of America or the United Kingdom or the Western world in general. Superboys of Malegaon is a film where, from the beginning, poetry, photography, filmography and authorship are championed in a society where literature and the arts are usually shunned for the sake of a life dedicated to marriage and stereotypical working roles.

Based on the biographical true story of filmmaker Nasir Shaikh from Malegaon himself, it’s clear that the amateur filmmaker has had significant roots laid down in Bollywood through people like Nasir and his team of writers, cinematographers and editors. Through Nasir’s dedication to showcase undistributed films from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin in the small Indian province, to his blind-sided nature coming to the surface thanks to the buzz of independent filmmaking, director Reema Kagti accurately portrays the benefits and risks that come with a dedicated career in cinema.

The film uses themes of piracy, cinephilia, and the collective enjoyment of the cinema to demonstrate how important independent filmmaking can be to rural and non-western areas. Superboys of Malegaon is a film that promotes a loud and raucous theatre, especially if that’s the main way a community can come together to enjoy the big screen. There are romances, there are comedic moments, there are heart-wrenchingly sad scenes surrounding a certain character’s decline in health, but all of these emotions are connected by the central theme of enjoying the movies and wanting to contribute to the magic of cinema together.

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What’s most impressive about Reema Kagti’s film is not just the way it utilises the source material, both from the Malegaon documentary and Nasir Sheikh’s life, but also the way it takes into the under-representation of South Asians as lovers of film and makers of film. The Bollywood film industry has generated significant income and economic benefits for the areas in which it thrives, Malegaon being one of the main areas where a positive impact has been seen.

Perhaps the only criticism of the film is that it could have showcased the impact of independent filmmaking on Malegaon communities a little more, rather than just Nasir Sheikh and his team of filmmakers. However, it was enlightening to see that comparisons were being drawn between the unattainable success that Mumbai brought to the sub-continent in comparison to the accessibility of cinema that Nasir was creating in Malegaon. With true stories like this, it’s always important to nail the casting and as ever, the end-of-film comparisons between the actors and their real-life counterparts showcase just how tight-knit a project Reema Kagti’s film was, almost mimicking the closeness of Nasir Sheikh’s team himself.