Click to play videoWhether through magic or myth Indians films have always made the superhero a uniquely Indian product. Here’s a looks at the abracadabra in our special series Only in India.
Mumbai: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur says in a few years when Spiderman takes off his mask, the face might well be Indian. But much before that happens, India, the land of myth, magic and heroes with divine powers, has already taken the superhero and made it uniquely Indian.
Our epics are full of fire-spouting arrows, form-changing demons and Gods who carry mountains on their little finger, so how could the superhero be far behind? And much before Krrish made its millions at the box office, Bollywood had its made in India superhero in Mr India, a tapori who loved children and had the ability to vanish.
“It is a film that I find the most alive because there is a continuous appeal for children whose parents were almost teenagers when this film was first made,” director of Mr India Shekhar Kapur said.
But not all Indian superheroes are super good. The Big B's Ajooba flopped even though it adapted all the superhero masala – a demon-worshipping villain, a court magician and kings and queens in distress.
“If one wants to do an action movie the way Hollywood does it then that kind of money is required,” film critic Nandini Ramnath explained.
But superhero films in India aren't just restricted to Bollywood. Perhaps the most evergreen characters of Bengali cinema are filmmaker Satyajit Ray's Goopi Gyne and Bagha Byne – village buffoons who please the king of ghosts with their singing and get magical powers.
Even before Goopy, there was Dilip Kumar in the swashbuckling Aan, which was like our very own Hindi speaking Zorro.
But the biggest recent superhero is actor Mukesh Khanna's Shaktimaan which created history with children jumping off buildings copying the hero with yogic powers.
“As an Indian yogic hero we even explained the divya vastras,” Khanna said.
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