Friendships trump filmmaking

Reema Kagti's film is an affectionate eulogy from Hindi cinema to the quirky film fanatics in a powerloom town of Maharashtra and their homegrown Superman, but it doesn't quite fly

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FIRST things first: to all the Doubting Thomases out there, Reema Kagti's Superboys of Malegaon does give due credit to Supermen of Malegaon, Faiza Khan's much-loved documentary on the spoof film industry of Malegaon and the making of its homegrown Superman. Having got that out of the way, one also can't ignore the fact that the 2008 film is an inescapable cross for Kagti to bear. Correlations, comparisons, associations, say what you may, are bound to be made between the two works. Nonetheless, Kagti's film is significant for being an affectionate eulogy from Hindi cinema to the quirky film fanatics in the power loom town of Maharashtra, devotees of Salman Khan as well as Charlie Chaplin and Bruce Lee. It is also a warm-hearted celebration of their signature Bollywood spin-offs as distinctive filmmaking of its own.