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Reinventing the Superhero for Bollywood, continued
By Matt Singer
on 07/10/2009
Amitabh Bachchan in "Shahenshah," Film Vision, 1988
"Shahenshah" marked Bachchan's return to Bollywood after a multi-year dalliance in the world of politics. In India, he became famous for playing a series of "angry young man" roles in the 1970s. He's a bit older by the time of "Shahenshah," but the overwhelming intensity he brought to his earlier work is present anytime he dons his costume, and the character cleverly plays off Bachchan's intimidating onscreen demeanor. Shahenshah's standard operating procedure goes something like this: wait for someone to bribe Vijay, who shows up the following night as Shahenshah and beats the holy hell out of everyone, before demanding the survivors mend their ways, and watch as the bad guys fall in line for fear of noose-related reprisals.
Shahenshah's closest American counterpart is Marvel Comics' Daredevil, a guy who believes in the law so much he has to break it to uphold it. Like Daredevil, Shahenshah sets off on his quest toward superherohood after losing his father to underworld graft. And like his compatriot Mr. India, Shahenshah's quest is loaded with social commentary: his arch-foe JK (once again played by the delightfully fiendish Amrish Puri) is another businessman taking advantage of the lower classes, knocking down chawls to make way for expensive high rises.
JK repeatedly uses his power to evade the law by bribing policemen, tampering with evidence and intimidating witnesses. After he escapes a murder conviction on a technicality, Shahenshah arrives, drags JK back into the courtroom, and proceeds to carry out his own trial until he arrives at the conclusion he deems satisfactory. Interestingly, while Shahenshah holds the threat of mortal violence over his enemies, he rarely uses it; instead, he works toward criminal's rehabilitation or confession, and a restoration of the proper social order. The film presents a clear line between good and evil, but suggests that the line may have to be crossed from time to time to fully repair India's problems.
There's less at stake, at least metaphorically speaking, in "Krrish" (2006), probably because much of the action is set in Singapore. Once again, a patriarchal score must be settled: Krishna (Hrithik Roshan) uses the magical powers he inherited from his father Rohit (also Roshan) to avenge his parents' deaths and win the love of a girl (Priyanka Chopra). Krrish is sort of Superman with a dash of Green Lantern: a pure-hearted orphan boy with powers from beyond the stars raised in rural tranquility by an elderly woman who moves to the big city and becomes a superhero celebrity chased by a career-obsessed journalist.
In some ways, "Krrish" is the most "Hollywood" of these Bollywood superheroes: fewer stabs at social relevance, more kicks to the face, and the film did gross over a million dollars in limited stateside release. Roshan, with his rippling muscles and million-dollar smile, cuts a very Western-friendly superheroic figure, and, with his flowing leather cloak and assortment of wire-assisted kung fu moves, doesn't look all that different on the surface from Keanu Reeves' Neo in "The Matrix." But to the best of my knowledge, Neo never performed an elaborate musical number in a field of wild flowers, or shed a single, melodramatic tear when left by a girlfriend. Western audiences might also bristle at "Krrish"'s languid pacing; the plot really doesn't get moving until after the intermission at the 90-minute mark, and even then, it's still another half-dozen scenes before Krrish finally puts on his mask and starts saving the day.
For Bollywood audiences, that may be the point. A movie like "Krrish" may be a superhero film, but it's also got to deliver all the other stuff audiences expect a crowd-pleaser to cover (i.e. everything imaginable). It's fun to consider what the Bollywood ethos could do in America. Maybe it'll look something like the "Spider-Man" musical coming to Broadway, directed by Julie Taymor, with songs by Bono and The Edge. If that becomes a hit, who knows what might happen? Imagine a "Transformers" sequel where the robots sing and dance, Shia LaBeouf winds up in front of the United Nations arguing for world peace, and Megan Fox had a scene where she fights Megatron while dressed like Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, and you're starting to get the idea.
[Additional photo: Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in "Mr. India," Eros International, 1987]
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Vishal
U left out "Dorona". It was more of a Bollywood superhero than Krish. Good artical. U put thought in2 it
I agree with Vishal - best of the bunch so far. "Drona" is definitely worth mentioning. The superhero genre is not incredibly popular but who knows - with Krrish 2 and SRK's Ra.1 supposedly in the works, things might pick up.
Pretty much every hardcore masala film from the 1970s/early 1980s featured an evil super-villain - Shaan, etc. but the heros were usually "ordinary" guys.
You also left out Toofan, one of the superhero type films from the '80's its worth checking out
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098491/
as well as Shiva ka insaf
http://teleport-city.com/wordpress/?p=903
joseph
sweet and sexy
joe
This reminds me of the dance scene in spiderman 3, so derided by American audiences and critics. I often get the feeling that bad films have actually hurt our ability to view 'openly', making scenes that are possibly enjoyable seem too strange to us. If there's one thing India doesn't do, it's take itself too seriously.
Ryan
MOre recently there has been a Tamil movie dubbed in Hindi called Aparichit (Stranger). Movie made big bucks in the south of India but could not recreate the magic when brought to Bombay. But still worth checking out and mentioning...the superhero has to deal with a multi-personality disorder...
