Reema Kagti’s Superboys Of Malegaon has been receiving high praise from the critics and audiences alike. The film tells the real story about a group of friends from Malegaon who make their own films for the people of their town. Apart from Adarsh Gourav and Shashank Arora, it also stars Saqib Ayub in the pivotal role of Irfan.
Interestingly, when Saqib bagged the role in Superboys Of Malegaon, he was simultaneously also cast in another prized project, Sam Bahadur. Hence, there came a time where he had to choose any one of them. He was shooting for a show for Applause Entertainment along with Ileana D’Cruz, Vihaan Samat, Divya Dutta in Goa when he got a call for Sam Bahadur.
“Later, the same casting directors called me for Superboys Of Malegaon too,” he said in an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama. “I was asked to test for Akram’s character. Then they asked me to test for Farogh. Then finally, I tested for Irfan and I got locked for it.”
But at the same time, he was also locked for Sam Bahadur. “The shoot of that film was clashing with Superboys of Malegaon,” said Saqib. “Luckily, it was the same casting directors. I asked them what should I do. They said at the end of the day it’s my call and I will have to say no to one project. Dil pe patthar rakh ke mujhe Meghna Gulzar ji ko na bolna pada Reema Kagti ke liye.” But the actor has no regrets. “All’s well that ends well,” he said.
Saqib was not aware about this fascinating film industry in Malegaon before coming on board Superboys Of Malegaon, although he was aware about the celebrated documentary Superman Of Malegaon. “I hadn’t seen it then. I saw it after I tested for Akram,” he said. “But I was aware about this town called Malegaon as I am a Muslim and I live in Andheri in a very Muslim populated locality. Over there, someone or the other had relatives coming over from Malegaon. But I didn’t know what all happens there. However, I knew that people from there are quite characters. I have interacted with them. But I didn’t know that there is a full-fledged film industry.”
Superboys Of Malegaon is also receiving high praise for its production designing, right from the Prince Video Parlour to the ordinary tea shops. “The credit goes to Sally (White), who was our production designer. Our art team, art director and production designer were superb. They have done a fabulous job. I remember watching the Prince Video Parlour and my character’s tea shop for the first time. It’s a real location in Deolali, which is an army area. They created the sets inside a locality over there,” said Saqib.
He added, “Prince Video Parlour was created. But the tea shop was already there; they just embellished it with painting and furniture. And Shafique’s house is an actual house of someone inside the lane nearby. We were all mesmerized and actually in awe of what she created because she is a South African. So, it is astonishing for her to create something like this by understanding our scenario with such fine details.”
From the whole set of actors, only one got to actually shoot in Malegaon. “The only lucky person to have got a chance to shoot in actual Malegaon was Shashank,” said Saqib. “His scenes in the power loom factory are shot there. These looms are still functioning in Malegaon and they can’t be recreated. Shooting (the whole film) in Malegaon was next to impossible because they knew that a film is being made on their people. So, you can just imagine the craze if we had shot there.”
Saqib was impressed with the clarity of thought of Reema Kagti. He said that even the final edit is ready in her mind while shooting. “She shoots as per her edit,” he said. “There are some directors who let us play and improvise and then they decide on the edit. But Reema isn’t like that. She knows what she wants. She didn’t rely on improvisations. Apart from a line here and there, she asked us to stick to the lines. Varun Grover’s writing was so on point that we weren’t required to do anything else. That was also a learning experience because my previous big project Farzi with Raj and DK gave me a lot of space to play around.”
Apart from an ode to cinema, Superboys Of Malegaon is also about friendship. Saqib said that his off screen bonding with Adarsh Gourav, Viineet Kumar Siingh, Shashank Arora and Ali Abbas helped portray their bond on screen. “We became very close friends,” he said. “We had a 5-6 days’ workshop with Atul Mongia sir. We used to be together all day. Sometimes, we used to visit Adarsh’s place for tea or coffee. Sometimes, Viineet bhai would call us to his place. So, we had started spending time with each other before the shoot started. And as the film was progressing, our bonding was becoming stronger.”
Superboys Of Malegaon didn’t set the box office on fire. But Saqib doesn’t think about it that way. “Honestly, I don’t think the film hasn’t done well because every day some friend of mine has been watching it in Mumbai and they have been saying that theatres are almost full with 80-85% capacity. And people have been applauding in the end and the same thing I have heard from other cast members as well. People have also been sitting till the end credits.”
He added, “I remember on the day of the release, Cinepolis (Mumbai) had two shows, but yesterday I could see four shows. So, it has been spreading through word-of-mouth like Laapataa Ladies and 12th Fail. We are still getting messages from the audience on Instagram on a daily basis even in the third week.”
Superboys Of Malegaon is produced by Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby Films.
Also Read: Adarsh Gourav on Superboys Of Malegaon, “When I first heard about Malegaon, I was completely blown away”
from Featured Movie News | Featured Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama https://ift.tt/G3oUqsi
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