Film screening on Sunday, December 4, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 1 pm.

Introduction by Ranjani Mazumdar, followed by a discussion with the director of Superman of Malegaon, Shaikh Nasir Niyazu Shaikh, and the director of the documentary Supermen of Malegaon, Faiza Khan.

SYNOPSIS

Supermen of Malegaon (2008), 70 min Urdu/Hindi with English subtitles, dir. 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.