‘Superboys of Malegaon’ director Reema Kagti: ‘A film that celebrates the magic of cinema’

Nasir Shaikh, the Malegaon filmmaker known for low-budget Bollywood parodies made with friends chipping in as actors and crew, is the subject of Reema Kagti’s Superboys of Malegaon. The Hindi film about filmmaking, friendship and determination stars Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora and Anuj Singh Duhan.

Gourav plays Shaikh who used creative storytelling and satire to make movies such as Malegaon Ke Sholay, Malegaon Ke Shaan and Superman of Malegaon. The movie mania that led to the phenomenon called “Mollywood” was previously explored by Faiza Ahmed Khan in her documentary Supermen of Malegaon (2008). Khan’s film has been given a shout-out in the end credits of Superboys of Malegaon.

Kagti’s fictional project, written by Varun Grover, was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024 and will be released on February 28 in cinemas. In an interview, Kagti (Talaash, Dahaad) talks about how her new movie pays tribute to Nasir Shaikh as well as the passion of filmmakers everywhere.

What attracted you to Mollywood and specifically Nasir Shaikh?

Nasir Shaikh is an inspirational character. When we started researching the story, I found similarities between him and me.

I grew up in a small town. I was crazy about films, just like him. We are from the same generation. We share a love for Mr Bachchan and Bruce Lee. I’m also a...

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