REPORT
5 superhero films
Bollywood should learn
from
R
ight from RA.One to A Flying Jatt, Hindi filmmakers have had underwhelming experiences with
superhero movies. These movies have been high
on ambition but have dropped the proverbial ball on their
execution. The point is, you don’t always need a high
concept movie to make a good superhero. Sometimes
you have to think out of the box and come up with a new
set of rules. Here are 5 films that push the filmmaking
envelope. Bollywood filmmakers will do well to emulate
the success stories of these films and make a superhero
movie that makes sense and kicks ass.
Batman Begins (2005)
Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman movie redefined
the way superhero movies were
looked at, even in
Hollywood. Batman Begins kept
its focus on the
origin story of its
superhero. It had
the requisite style
of a decent Hollywood film, but it
did not go overboard with its aesthetics. The idea
was to focus on
the human drama
of
superheroes
rather than their
superhuman abilities. That detailed approach to storytelling added so
much credibility to this genre movie. B-town’s superheroes will do well to focus on their stories, emotions and
families too.
Kick-Ass (2010)
This indie movie by director Mathew Vaughn brought in
a whole new trend to superhero movies. Kick-Ass was
an A-rated high on violence and high on comedy superhero movie. It was made on a shoestring budget but it
proved to Hollywood and the world that you could tell superhero stories with dark humour too. The superheroes
in Kick-Ass didn’t have super powers; they were in fact
ordinary people in fancy costumes becoming vigilantes.
And that sense of commonness worked wonders for the
film too. The lesson to be learnt for b-town’s superhero
aspirants is that your characters and your story need not
be larger-than-life all the time. Sometimes, being ordinary can also be special.
Chronicle (2012)
Chronicle was another indie production that was more
of a sci-fi thriller than a regular superhero genre entrant.
But the characters in this movie were unmistakably super powered individuals like say Superman or Spiderman. What Chronicle did was that it showed filmmakers that superhero movies could be intense and that
superheroes needn’t be bulky bodybuilders. They could
be average high school students too. In India, we know
Hrithik Roshan’s Greek God persona makes for a killer
superhero in Krrish, but
the same formula could
be applied to younger
characters too.
Deadpool (2016)
This year’s biggest
breakthrough story from
Hollywood, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool put a
whole new spin on the
superhero game. This
R-rated action comedy
proved that superhero
domain also had potential for adult humour.
Indian movie market
has shown a lot of acceptance for adult comedies and some brave
new filmmaker in India could mix the superhero genre
with risqué and profanity high content to create an edgy
new concept.
Baahubali (2015)
Forget Hollywood, b-town’s best need only to look up to
the Telugu movie industry for inspiration. SS Rajamouli’s
Baahubali may not be a superhero movie, but this fantasy flick was high on CGI and larger-than-life characters
both of which are standard trappings of the superhero
genre. If Rajamouli can manage to make a movie that
makes Hollywood fantasy look like ordinary fare, there’s
no reason why Bollywood’s young brigade can’t come
up with a movie that can rival The Avengers or The Batman movies too. They just need to focus on executing
their ideas with top quality.
19 | BOOM