Superman chronicles - from Smallville to Malegaon

PANAJI - Good things come in small packets. And sometimes they also come in unexpected casings. A case in point is “Malegaon Ka Superman”. Made at a ridiculously low budget of Rs.1 lakh, it has travelled to several international film festivals and the maker claims that it can do better business than “Slumdog Millionaire”.

“I am telling you it is a good film. I am sure that given the right exposure, it will do better business than the mega-budget ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ “, producer Rakesh Sabharwal, whose film is featured in the newly introduced spoof section at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), told IANS.

“Malegaon Ka Superman” (MKS) has travelled to film festivals in the US, Pakistan and China and has already been screened at the 11th Osian’s Cinefan film fest in Delhi.

“MKS was screened four times at Osian. It was very popular. There was even a special screening for school children,” Sabharwal said, adding that known mainstream directors like Anurag Kashyap and Zoya Akhtar had watched the movie.

“It is a Bohra Bros production and the banner Bitu Motion Pictures has already won 14 awards so far and can do much better,” said Sabharwal, who believes that the film can go from strength to strength.

“What we really want to do is to take the film worldwide, but there are other plans before that. We already have invitations to participate in film festivals in the US and Canada,” he added.

The film was shot and canned within a quick-fire schedule of 27 days on a paltry budget by a scratch crew from Malegaon. It was shot without the usual paraphernalia used by other deep-pocketed filmmakers.

“There were no cranes used, no camera crane. It was all very basic,” he said.

Just like Hollywood’s big-budget million-dollar Superman movies, the protagonist in MKS too uses his superpower to do good.

“It’s actually a story of a shy boy who suddenly gets superhuman powers,” said Sabharwal.

Films, according to Sabharwal, are a great leveller. “Nowadays, even big budget films do so badly on the box office. I feel what you need is a good script,” he said.