No surprise here: Having raked in Rs 400 crore worldwide (as of September 24), Brahmastra - Part 1 has quickly become the biggest Bollywood release in months (no, years). When it was released three weeks ago, there were three things that critics and the audience seemed to agree upon. One, the VFX is outstanding. Two, the plot is garbage. And third: Shah Rukh Khan will always be all kinds of amazing.
But critical views notwithstanding, Brahmastra is filmmaker Ayan Mukerji’s labour of love. This years-in-the-making superhero flick has successfully launched Bollywood’s own cinematic multiverse. Indeed, for those who don’t already know, Brahmastra is the first in a trilogy. Rumors are rife that the next one, Part Two - Dev, will star Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Or, it could be Hritik Roshan.
Roshan, of course, has been the star of his own superhero juggernaut, the Krrish franchise – which is also rumored to be getting another installment. And while Brahmastra’s success proves the appetite for an Indian superhero is massive, it’s also true that Indian filmmakers’ fascination with the superhero genre began decades ago.
Noted film journalist Gautam Chintamani has pointed to the 1926 silent film Suvarna Kamal as one of Hindi cinema’s first experiments with the genre, starring Master Vithal in search of the golden lotus that has the power to placate the goddess Kali. Closer to the end of the last millennium – and as superheroes began to invade Hollywood in greater numbers – filmmakers across languages tapped in.
NT Rama Rao, doyen of Telugu cinema, has played Superman in a 1980 adaptation; as did Puneet Issar in a 1987 Hindi-language movie. Satyajit Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshe, sequel to Goopy Gyne Baagha Byne, sees Goopy and Bagha deploy their recently-acquired magical powers to save a kingdom from its tyrant king.
Mr India with Arun’s invisibility bracelet and Mogambo (the greatest villain Bollywood ever conjured) may be considered, even today, the gold standard for an Indian superhero film, but there’s been a lot more, with varying degrees of cringe. There was Amitabh Bachchan in Ajooba (the Harry Potter-like Ali Shehzada) and Shehenshah (armed with chain-link armour and the wrath of a thousand gods).
Years later, Abhishek Bachchan played the descendant of a Mahabharata warrior in Drona. Jackie Shroff took his revenge as the journalist-super warrior Bhola in Shiva Ka Insaaf. And Sridevi as a shape-shifting snake in Nagin counts too. India’s range of superhero films, no matter the grade, plot or film’s performance, does make you wonder: Who is a superhero, really?
With better technology, smarter writing and, significantly, more authentic, inventive costumes, the Indian superhero film has found itself enriched lately. While you’re on the fence about watching Brahmastra a second time already, check out these Indian superhero films on streaming platforms, for a trip down memory lane, or to see where the genre is headed.
1. Minnal Murali
By Basil Joseph
Streaming on Netflix
Like DC’s Flash, Jaison and Shibu gain their superpowers when they are struck by lightning. Unlike Flash, they do not instantly and magically get outfitted with the costumes, weapons, and tools superheroes need. A truly original Malayalam-language film, Minnal Murali takes great delight in underlining the amusing contradictions of a tailor-turned-mutant being in ’90s rural Kerala, fighting to save his village from the vengeful antagonist Shibu – in a mundu, no less. A mighty flex from the actor Tovino Thomas, and possibly the best superhero film created in India so far.
2. Ra One
By Anubhav Sinha
Streaming on ZEE5
Since our collective fandom for Shah Rukh Khan is peaking, it may be time to revisit this blockbuster. Plus, there’s something enduring about a plot that pits a game designer, a protagonist and antagonist of his own creation, and his gamer son in one big spandex-covered racy but bizarre fight complete with wild stunts and VFX that, for its time, was ahead of the curve.
3. Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
By Vikramaditya Motwane
Streaming on Netflix
As Amitabh Bachchan’s career at its peak proves, there is no greater superpower in India (according to Bollywood) than unbridled rage, especially at the powers that be. Motwane’s Batman-esque vigilante Siku (Harsh Vardhan Kapoor) is trying to get to the bottom of a corrupt water-pilfering scheme, after his best friend (the titular Bhavesh, played by Priyanshu Painyuli) loses his life also trying to do the same. Gritty and dark (if a little bloated), with this film, Motwane re-invented the Angry Young Indian for the millennial generation.
4. 2.0
By S. Shankar
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
A disenchanted and vengeful ornithologist (Akshay Kumar) exacts revenge on his world by creating a massive aggressive bird made entirely of cellphones. Dr Vasigaran (Rajinikanth), his humanoid vigilante Chitti (also Rajinikanth), whom we last saw in Enthiran, and the upgraded 2.0 (also Rajini) must save the day. Watch this Tamil film not to glean any subtext about climate change or deep commentary on the state of modern life – it doesn’t exist – but for the grandeur of Shankar’s sci-fi visuals and a performance from Rajinikanth like no other.
5. Anniyan
By S. Shankar
Streaming on YouTube
Years before Enthiran and 2.0’s big-budget glamour, Shankar made a much smaller vigilante film, starring Vikram, that found great critical praise (even in 2005, this was the most expensive Tamil film made). Vikram plays Ramanujam, a man with multiple personality disorder who works as a lawyer by day and takes all manner of crooks and criminals to task by night. Our vigilante fights 100 martial arts experts in a Matrix-like freeze-frame fight scene – watch Anniyan for this sequence alone.
6. Super Singh
By Anurag Singh
Streaming on ZEE5
If Star-Lord and Superman had a love child (and if, for some reason, it spoke Punjabi), that would be Sajjan Singh. Diljit Dosanjh delights as the young college boy living in Canada who overnight acquires super strength and the power to deflect bullets. As he speeds around the world saving it from a string of catastrophes, you know his real mission is what all boys his age want. Score with the hot girl he’s got a crush on. What this movie lacks in budget (unlike its much more plush cousin, the Tiger Shroff vehicle A Flying Jatt), it makes up for with dollops of humour.
7. Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
By Vasan Bala
Streaming on Netflix
Surya (Abhimanyu Dassani) was born with a congenital insensitivity to pain but is prone to dehydration. Raised on a steady diet of Bruce Lee films by his grandfather (Naseeruddin Shah), Surya ventures out into the world with a water bag strapped to his back – only to slip and fall in love when he meets Supri, who is something of a ninja herself but will still need rescuing eventually. And Surya, who has practiced his punches and kicks in dusty street corners and on top of his crumbly Mumbai building, is up to the task. Bala’s adorable film is a comedy, a romance, an indie first – the superheroism is almost incidental, making the movie all the more watchable for it.
8. Mr India
By Shekhar Kapur
Streaming on ZEE5
Anil Kapoor: the poor but big-hearted musician who raises a house full of orphans. Sridevi: Channeling everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Fearless Nadia to her most diva self. Amrish Puri: At his terrifying best, despite the comical costume and HMU. And one invisibility bracelet to rule them all. Mr India needed no capes to soar as high as it has.
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