Superman of Malegaon Unplugged

 Love the movies do you? Have you watched Supermen of Malegaon? Not yet? But, you must! This is one movie, which every critic worth his/her salt is raving about; even the hard-to-please Aamir Khan has tweeted about it. Nishi Roy from B'Khush  in conversation with Shiladitya Bora, Head of PVR Director’s Rare, to know more about Supermen of Malegaon.
 
 
 Is Supermen of Malegaon (SoM) a documentary or a fun-movie?
Shiladitya : Supermen of Malegaon is an award winning documentary film by Faiza Ahmad Khan. 
Malegaon, a small town tucked away near the heart of India geographically, is fraught with communal tension and under economic depression. To escape the harsh reality of their world, its people seek refuge in the fantastical world of cinema. This passion for cinema has spurred a group of cinema enthusiasts to make their own films-quirky, low budget, socially aware and notoriously funny spoofs of Bollywood films. Their ambition has grown and now they are ready to take on Hollywood and Superman. We follow them on this journey. At times funny, tragic, contemplative. Always warm and engaging. And as the film begins to take shape,through schemes and approaches that are sublimely ingenious,simply bizarre and purely hysterical, we also slowly discover Malegaon itself. The film is a tribute to a spirit that can never be vanquished, the spirit that enables The Supermen of Malegaon to make Malegaon's Superman.
 
 
 
 
 Releasing it alongside a Hollywood biggie, don’t you think that is a risk, considering that SoM has no known stars and is offbeat? 

Shiladitya: Releasing it with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was an informed decision as it immediately draws a comparison between the two extremes and indeed helps in marketing as everybody starts juxtaposing the same.
 
 
 
 
 A big thumbs up for giving a platform to budding directors with offbeat content to showcase their creativeoffering to viewers.  What is the philosophy behind the same?
 
Shiladitya: PVR Director’s Rare is the recently launched alternative programming initiative of PVR Cinemas to support the theatrical release of critically acclaimed, small independent films. Hardcore film buffs will no longer have to choose between catching world cinema masterpieces on a small screen or waiting for once a year festivals to bring the latest independent films to theatres.  PVR Director’s Rare will be regularly bringing award winning and critically acclaimed films from across the globe to the discerning audience. Your supermarket stores Pepsi, Coke and if you look in some corner of the store, they will have homemade lemonade. Pepsi and Coke enjoy top of the mind recall because of the money spent on advertising every year whereas the homemade lemonade is probably seasonal and lacks the distribution chain. Our idea at PVR is to open a separate counter so that the homemade lemonade gets equal amount of eyeballs as Pepsi and Coke at least within our store. PVR was the pioneer in the multiplex chain revolution. Now time has come to start a new revolution in the Indian Cinema Exhibition. PVR can do what The Weinstein Company did in the Hollywood i.e. release these niche films to be exhibited in the PVR properties pan India.PVR shall begin association with films festivals in and outside India that primarily show Indian Content e.g. This shall be one of the sources to pick-up the best available alternative content. So far, no distributor or multiplex chain has taken this step. We as PVR want to be the first ones again with this new vertical in alternate programming that will give us not only the first mover’s advantage but also will re-establish once again our coin in the business of Films Exhibition and Distribution.
 
 
 
 
 How has the audience response been so far? 

Shiladitya: The audience response has been very positive till now. The film is doing very good business in Mumbai and Pune. In other cities It’s slowly picking up. I am yet to come across a single person who had watched the film and not like it. The film has got very good reviews from almost every film critic. It’s very encouraging to see Aamir Khan  giving a shout out for the film on Twitter.
 
 
 
 
The movie has won quite a few awards, can you share which ones are those? 

Shiladitya: The award list includes:
Asiatica Film Mediale, Rome - Nov 2008  Jury Award for Best Documentary
Kara Film Festival, Pakistan - Feb 2009  Jury Award for Best Documentary (shared)
ZagrebDox - Feb 2009
 
DoxBox, Syria - March 2009
London International Documentary Festival - March 2009
B-est, Romania - March 2009
Full Frame Documentary Festival, Durham, USA - April 2009
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, USA - April 25, 2009
Gdansk Documentary Film Festival, Poland - Apr 2009
Documenta Madrid, Spain - May 2nd 2009
Doc Aviv , Israel - May 2009
IFFI, Goa 2010
Osian's Cinefan, Delhi - 2010
Silverdocs, Washington DC
Musem of Modern Art (MoMA) - New York
Karlovy Vary SAIFF, San Francisco- 2009
 
 
 
What would you like to tell people who are yet to see the movie.  What would you say is the USP of the movie?
Shiladitya:  I would like to quote film critic Anna Vetticad for this one.
“ As we celebrate 100 Years of Indian cinema, there can be no better gift to our film-crazed nation than this superb film.