By Renu Mehta
Toronto
Toronto audiences gave a standing ovation to Zoya Akhtar’s film Superboys of Malegaon presented at a Gala at Roy Thomson Hall to a full hall.
Directed by Reema Kagti, the film is based on the true story of Nasir Sheikh and the film chronicles the life and work of the self-made man who has brought Malegaon on the map of the Indian cinema. Sheikh realized that Mumbai would not welcome him so he began to make his own films in the small community that he lived in.
It all began about 12 years ago when Akhtar attended a film festival in Delhi that Sheikh was also attending.
“Nasir sees Zoya and goes over to Zoya who recognizes him because she’s seen his documentary. He introduces himself and says ‘I am a huge fan of your father and I have plagiarized all his films’. She found that charming and that was how the conversation started,” says Kagti at a media reception in Toronto prior to the TIFF screening.
The film starts in 1997 and is set in Malegaon where Sheikh screens films of Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan by re-editing the films and presenting them to audiences as a mash up. But soon his plans are stalled on the name of plagiarism. So he says ‘What the heck? I will make my own film’.
He assembles a crew and cast of friends and locals, borrows a camera from a wedding videographer and sets out to remake Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 film into ‘Malegaon Ke Sholay.’ The film is an instant hit, and the video parlour is full house every day. He then remakes Shaan and other famous Bollywood films.
“What’s special about this is that Nasir had a love for something,” says Akhtar in Toronto. “He wanted to do something, and he didn’t wait for anything to come around, he didn’t wait for that break. He didn’t chase anybody. He just did it; he did it with what he had, whatever resources he had, and he represented himself. I think people should get inspired from that. He had an idea, and you don’t know where it reaches and today we are sitting here. It has come from there to here and I think if you do something from your heart in whatever way you can, just start.”
“There is magic in the movie and audiences can see that,” said Akhtar in Toronto. “This is the 50th year of Sholay and the characters, those dialogues are still alive. It’s a wonder.”
