Film Festival - Class VIII

Lights, Camera and ACTION!
Thus begins the action of films - full of energy, enthusiasm and unending passion, cinema is much
more than shooting scenes to narrate a story. While films narrate stories, do you know of
innumerable stories of films itself – of hope, passion, desire and persistence? One such story on the films is Supermen of Malegaon.
A vivid and endearing account of filmmaker Sheikh Nasir’s attempt to make Malegaon’s own version of the Hollywood blockbuster Superman, Supermen of Malegaon pays a tribute to all those passionate men and women in Malegaon who in spite of all difficulties have given creativity and art a chance in their lives!

Supermen of Malegaon (Supermen of Malegaon)
Director : Faiza Ahmad Khan Year : 2008 Duration : 79 min
Country : India Language : Hindi & Urdu Subtitles : Yes
• Synopsis
Over a hundred miles outside of Mumbai in the textile factory town of Malegaon, director Nasir has thrilled the local public with his homemade spoof films. In their most ambitious project to date, Nasir and his hard working group of actors, writers, and crew set out to shoot "Superman of Malegaon", a story about a hero sent down the river to save the town.
Documentary filmmaker Faiza Ahmad Khan chronicles Nasir's hilarious attempts to overcome a myriad of unseen challenges from dropping his camera in the water to his lead actor getting married. Through it all, Nasir and his team use their creativity to forge ahead. SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON will remind even the most cynical moviegoers of the sheer joy and excitement inherent in films and filmmaking.
• Note on The Director
Faiza Ahmad Khan completed a postgraduate diploma in Social Communications media from Sophia Polytechnic in May 2003, after which she worked as a production executive in an advertising company. In 2004 she began her freelance career as an assistant on short films and documentaries. She has worked with Manish Jha as chief assistant director for the feature film Anwar. This is her first full length documentary.
• Statement from Osian’s-Cinefan
This year, the focus of the School Outreach programme (Story of Cinema) was decided by two remarkable films which were submitted to the Festival – Harishchandra Factory & Superman of Malegaon. Both the films are on filmmaking, set in completely different times, yet not very different in its chronicling of filmmaking. Supermem of Malegaon was an inevitable choice – it simplifies the art of filmmaking to this nature that it can inspire everyone to embark on that path: of giving one’s own creativity a chance.
Creativity is inherent to all – it sees no barriers of age, caste, social standing, education or the like. But many of us in the grind of life and in our own nonchalance often ignore this God Gifted quality and allow it to decay. Supermen of Malegaon is above all a Tribute to Creativity and the passion to pursue it.
FILM BRIEFING SESSION
A superman within each of you!
Listen to this story…
In a corner of the country, in a small town, there are over one lakh power-looms. This city produces 1 crore meters of cloth daily with lakhs of people working in them. These people repeat the same mechanical action for over 14 hours everyday in hot, humid and difficult conditions. Very poor, this is their only source of livelihood. This is how life is for majority of the population in this town.
Every Friday is eagerly awaited, though. For it is the weekly off, when the power loom workers give vent to the tiredness of the week and relax. Though they have little money they engage in small pleasures which give them respite from the drudgery of the week. One such engagement is cinema. Films run house full in this town. Every other person is a film buff. Salons are specialized in giving Shah Rukh Cuts & Amitabh Hair makeover. Video parlours flourish. In this town there is a growing group of people who have take forward their passion for films – they have begun to make films. Innovative creative films, based on the Bollywood Blockbusters, have been the hits in this town. Everyone participates – the loom worker, tea shop owner, and grocer, tailor – become camerapersons, technicians, light men and production assistants – and go on to make films that are simply loved by the local audience. They face a lot of problems, though – financial constraints, outdated equipment, lack of knowledge – but still they move on in the belief that the film has to be made and their creativity has to be nurtured. They work on Fridays and many a times at low or no pay – for the satisfaction that the film gives them. Such is the story of creativity.
Listening to this story how many of you feel inspired to explore your own creative urges? We do not have such constraints, yet how many of us are willing to walk the extra mile to fulfill our hobbies? The story narrated above is that of Malegaon, a town which has seen over the years unemployment, communal tension, worker unrest, economic downturn, degradation of quality of life and more recently, as you would know, the horror of terror. Yet they stand up against all odds to make something that will make them happy and see life, even if for brief moments in a lighter shade.
This story is one which inspires each of us to give the Superman inside us a chance to express and explore – who knows where this journey may take us!