Mumbai, Feb 25: The way self-taught filmmaker Nasir Shaikh fought against all odds to pursue movie making motivated director Reema Kagti, producer Farhan Akhtar and lead actor Adarsh Gaurav to depict his journey in “Superboys of Malegaon” and they hope the film serves as an inspiration to other dreamers.
Set in Malegaon, a small town in western India, the film offers an intimate look into the lives of Shaikh and his two friends – essayed by Shashank Arora and Vineet Kumar Singh – who set out to make low-budget spoofs of popular Bollywood and Hollywood films like “Sholay”, “Superman” and others. Kagti, known for movies such as “Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd”, “Talaash” and OTT show “Dahaad”, said she could see parallels between her life and Shaikh’s journey.
“The one important difference is that I moved from a small town to Mumbai because I wanted to direct, Nasir brought Mumbai to his town. He didn’t wait for anything to be handed out. He went out within his limited resources, he made a film, he put it out there with no agenda, purely for the love of filmmaking. “He created a completely parallel universe of video filmmaking, where they were distributing their films in their video parlours. He told us that he’d made a film for about Rs 50,000 and then earned about Rs two or two-and-half or three lakhs. I hope it inspires more filmmakers. But it will also inspire anybody who has a dream,” the filmmaker told PTI in an interview.
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Farhan, who has backed the film through Excel Entertainment, said Shaikh’s story is rooted not just in filmmaking but in the shared human experience of overcoming challenges.
“We complain a lot in our life, ‘This is not there, that is not there, and how will it happen?’ Here is a story of people who didn’t complain, they were like, ‘What’s the point of complaining? Get up and do something’. The way to start doing something is to stop complaining, stop procrastinating, and get up and do something.
“For me that’s very inspirational because it’s not only about film, there’s a life lesson, not everyone gets it. Not everybody’s born with a silver spoon but you make your own life, you chart your own path and it can take you anywhere,” Farhan said.
Shaikh said he was inspired by Zoya Akhtar – one of the producers of “Superboys of Malegaon” — previous work, particularly “Luck By Chance”, and felt a strong connection with her creative vision when the two first met in Delhi at Osian’s Film Festival in 2009. “Zoya ji was the first one to offer me the film (‘Superboys of Malegaon’). When I told her my story, she liked it. She asked me about my family, friends, etc. We made an agreement, but she got busy with her other work commitments. In this period, Aziz Mirza, Kundan Shah came to Malegaon and two more companies also came,” Shaikh said, adding, he assured Zoya that he would want her to make a movie on his life story. Adarsh, known for his impactful performances in “The White Tiger”, “Guns & Gulaabs”, is portraying Shaikh in the film. “The White Tiger” star said it is rare to hear a story that leaves an impact on the listener. “I remember the first time I read the script, when Varun bhai (Grover, film’s writer) sent it to me; I was just completely blown away. When the entire world is kind of against you, you prove everybody wrong and come out as a winner. For me, this story is just that, it’s something that is so deeply inspirational and something that will force you to think, force you to introspect, and be inspired,” he said.
An admirer of Shaikh’s work, Kagti said she found a way to weave in her story through the shared passion the two have for cinema.
“When I started talking to Nasir, I felt a director is a director whether I’m directing in Mumbai or Nasir Bhai in Malegaon, there’s a hustler, jugadu, you have to get people to inspire them. There’s a little bit of manipulation in that. So, there are many parallels like that. (PTI)
