Mumbai: In an exclusive IANS interview, the team behind "Superboys of Malegaon", including Farhan Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Adarsh Gourav, and Nasir Sheikh, shared insights into the film's creative process and storyline. They reminisced about their personal journeys and the film's inception. Reema discussed the film's assembly, while Farhan reflected on the entertainment industry's shift due to OTT platforms and his production house's diversification. The team offered a glimpse into their passion project, revealing the dedication and creativity that went into its making.
#FarhanAkhtar #ReemaKagti #AdarshGourav #NasirSheikh #SuperboysofMalegaon #Trending #2025 #BollywoodCountry #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
#FarhanAkhtar #ReemaKagti #AdarshGourav #NasirSheikh #SuperboysofMalegaon #Trending #2025 #BollywoodCountry #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00So, hello everyone, welcome to INS and congratulations for Superboys of Malegaon, it's about to
00:04release on Prime Video.
00:06I want to start off by asking…
00:07It's about to release theatrically on 28th.
00:10Okay.
00:11Okay.
00:12So, I want to start off by asking Farhan, Reema and Asirbhai, all of your cinematic
00:16journeys started around the same time, Malegaon Ke Sholay came out in 2000, that's when
00:22I think work on Dil Chahta Hai started.
00:25So, two very different journeys, two very different schools of filmmaking, when all
00:31of you came together to make something like this, what was the creative wavelength like
00:36and how did you go about it from there?
00:38Anyone can take the lead and start.
00:39Reema, I think…
00:40Oh, I thought it was the question was for you.
00:43For you also.
00:44Okay, for me also.
00:45Well, obviously these people were ahead of me, I made my first film in 2007, but I think
00:53the special thing about Naseerbhai and Superboys of Malegaon is, you know, the spirit of filmmaking,
01:02the love for filmmaking, that's in all of us, you know, and it could be like, I was
01:09talking to Naseerbhai and I realised that you can be a director from Mumbai or a director
01:14from Malegaon, there are certain parallels, your mindset is a certain thing and those
01:20things don't change at whatever level you're working, you know.
01:24Okay, thank you.
01:25Farhan?
01:26No, I completely agree.
01:27Eventually, you have to tell a story, you have to try in any way, whatever you get,
01:33however you get it, that's best to be able to tell your story, so that is a parallel.
01:38But obviously, Naseerbhai's journey is completely different from mine, which you
01:44will get to see in this film and you will get to learn from it.
01:48It's a completely different story and his spirit, the spirit of him, his friends who
01:53collaborated with him and made the film, the writer, his other actor friends, who made
01:58this film with him, when you see them and when you think about it, I think Reema had
02:03said in an interview that the way he brought the film industry to his city, I think that
02:11is truly commendable.
02:12Because I have heard that people come from here and there to Mumbai to join the film
02:16industry.
02:17He said, leave all that, I am going to join the film industry, that will be the easiest
02:21thing.
02:22That to me is a very commendable way of having gone.
02:24And unique.
02:25Yeah, very unique.
02:26And he created an industry there, which is amazing.
02:29Naseerbhai, on the same thing, as I said, your journey started around the same time.
02:35When these people came to you that we have to tell your story through a big medium,
02:40what did you talk to them?
02:42How did you keep your word?
02:44What did they say about you?
02:47No, the story, when Zoya ji told them, when I told them the story, that this happened
02:53in my life, or my friends are like this, they liked that story a lot.
02:58And it was completely different from Superman.
03:01The story of Superboys of Mahalegaon, it has all the details of my life.
03:05How did it start?
03:06And it was very fair with me.
03:08I mean, what I used to think, even though Mr. Varun had only taken the audio from me
03:15when he came to Mahalegaon, but what to keep, how much to keep, and who to take,
03:20there was no discussion, so he took it in his own way.
03:22But whatever came in front of me, it was perfect.
03:27I am very satisfied.
03:28I am very satisfied with the story, with the film.
03:32And this is my turning point.
03:34For me, for Mahalegaon, and it is a matter of great joy.
03:37And there is no idea of happiness, I don't know.
03:43And Adarsh, what I find really great about your craft is your ability to get into the
03:48skin of the characters.
03:49I was listening to you earlier as well.
03:51You said it was not important to mimic the character or that world.
03:54What was important to get into the headspace of the character that you are playing.
03:58If you could break down to me your process, how did you approach it,
04:01and what all did you do to kind of get acquitted with this surrounding of Mahalegaon
04:08and the whole universe?
04:09I don't think I have a process as such, but what I usually try to do when I am studying
04:14people to, when I have to play either an existing person or a person that I have for reference
04:20is that I try to blend in.
04:22So, the more I can blend in into the environment, into the fabric of the place that I am inheriting
04:29the better for me because then it also kind of helps people open up to me easily and faster.
04:38So, when I was prepping for Superboys, I went to Mahalegaon and I remember I carried only
04:44two or three pieces of clothes with me and we went on the first day and we went shopping.
04:47Do you remember?
04:48Naseer Bhai got me a shirt, a pant and slippers from Kidwai Road.
04:52And I wore the same pant and slippers for the next 15 days that I was there.
04:56So that people don't recognize you.
04:57Yes, they didn't recognize me and I didn't want to draw any attention towards me.
05:04And then we would just sit and talk and talk about our lives and about how we started
05:08and more from his side than mine obviously because I am playing him.
05:12And one of the days I just had an idea that why don't we make a film again so that I get
05:16to observe you.
05:17So, I won't creatively interfere in your process because he hadn't made a film in 10-12 years.
05:22I told him to make a film and I will produce it and I will assist you and I will shoot
05:26my BTS for myself.
05:27So, we worked on the script for 3-4 days and then we went to the same location where
05:33Naseer Bhai used to shoot his pictures and we involved the same people who Naseer Bhai
05:38used to collaborate with.
05:40So, it was a very beautiful process and we put that film out on YouTube.
05:43It's called Nana Ki Kranthi and hopefully I will be able to put my BTS of it as well
05:47that I am editing right now.
05:49So, the process keeps changing and evolving with everything.
05:52And Reema, Naseer Bhai's story is something that it tells an extravagant story through
05:58very frugal means, the way of filmmaking.
06:01It's very homespun if I may say so.
06:04When you set out to make this film, you had to kind of work inversely with everything
06:08at your disposal, the luxuries of the filmmaking world to tell a story of a frugal man making
06:15films at his level.
06:17What was that process like to kind of inversely go from a rich world to more of a homespun
06:22world?
06:24I mean, I think because of, you know, this kind of inflation and all, no budget is firstly
06:29ever enough.
06:31At whichever level you're functioning, you always feel your budget is less.
06:36But to me, what was interesting really to get into was Naseer had no agenda.
06:45You know, we as filmmakers, you always have an agenda in terms of, you know, you're
06:49trying to make a good film, it's your next film, you're making strategic decisions,
06:54you know, things like that.
06:56Even though you're trying to make a good film or tell stories that mean something.
07:00With him, it was just pure love of filmmaking.
07:04He went out, did it with the means he had, with the community around him.
07:10And he ended up building a parallel world of filmmaking.
07:16It's a universe that's, you know, completely coexisting on its own.
07:21It's an ecosystem that works on its own.
07:23And to me, that was commendable and also very humbling.
07:27So I think that my approach to the film was to see what his journey was, you know.
07:36And Farhan, the journey or the profile of XL Entertainment has largely diversified since
07:412015.
07:43Since around that time, you know, streaming platforms started coming in.
07:46Mirzapur, Kho Gaye Hum Kaha, Gully Boy.
07:49Earlier, XL Entertainment was known for making a certain, films of certain taste
07:55or certain aesthetics, but they've really diversified, you have really diversified
07:59in the past 8-10 years.
08:01How do you see this journey and how much of a role has OTT, primarily Prime Video
08:06has played into diversifying the profile of XL Entertainment?
08:08Yeah, I mean, see, the audience has expanded because of the advent of OTT.
08:13You know, there is a, there was an entire lot out there of people
08:19who would not go to theatres to watch films.
08:21They would not.
08:23They would be watching some foreign content that came, you know, into their homes
08:26in some kind of way or that released.
08:28And somehow, OTT has helped us reach those people.
08:32You know, the kind of viewerships that certain streaming shows get,
08:35your theatrical footfalls just can't match.
08:38You know, but where are those people when the film releases in a theatre?
08:41They're not going to a theatre, they're waiting to watch something when it comes in.
08:44So, their tastes are different, their sensibilities are different
08:47and as a production house and as storytellers,
08:50you want to engage with all kinds of people.
08:53Obviously, not putting aside your morality.
08:57You know, obviously not putting aside your aesthetic.
09:00You know, you still have certain standards to maintain.
09:03Standards to maintain when you're representing a company
09:07or you're representing a film.
09:09So, that is something we're very, very careful with.
09:11But beyond that, I think it's given us an opportunity to do it.
09:15Before Amazon and the others came along,
09:19you could only make theatrical experiences for people.
09:22You know, so you had to be a lot more,
09:24you had to be very, very selective of what went out
09:27because the business was only defined by what happened in a theatre.
09:30Now, there are many more avenues that people can watch your film through.
09:34But if I may say, even within that,
09:37you know, we had to be selective
09:40but they also kind of produced my first film, Honeymoon Travels,
09:44Zoya's first film, Luck By Chance,
09:46which now, 15 years later and 18 years later,
09:49it feels like they're very commercial films.
09:51But at the time they came out,
09:53that was not the mindset towards films like that.
09:56So, I think that Farhan and Ritesh have always
09:58tried to push the envelope
10:01and encourage an array of films and filmmakers.