Heroes, Superheroes and other filmi formulas…

My favourite superhero is Spiderman. My friend loves Batman and has a collection of Batman toys. Superman is the favourite of another friend who told me how he had dressed up in the superman costume and had gone to the airport to receive his dad (when he was in school). My wife’s favourite superhero is Salman Khan…

Salman Khan does not wear a cape or a mask and he doesn’t have any powers… I say. So what... he can still jump from buildings, lift trucks, dodge bullets, send bad guys flying and save the world which is all the things that a Superman or a Spiderman does… is her answer.

So, in movies there are two types of superheroes the first is the western kind where it’s the mask/ cape/ weapon etc that makes the person playing the role a superhero – Christian Bale as Batman, Toby McGuire as Spiderman. The actor playing the part display characteristics of the superhero. The second type of superhero which is prevalent in Indian movies, where the person/ actor himself is the superhero Salman Khan in Dabangg/ Wanted/ Bodyguard or Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore or Ajay Devgan in Singam.

I recently overheard a conversation in office where some of the Indian heroes were compared to the Hollywood superheroes. There were some very good points both the groups had to support their hero/ superhero. The Hollywood group said the superheroes have weapons/ vehicles specifically designed for them that help them to fight the bad guys. The Indian group countered that by saying our heroes can use anything that they see nearby to fight the bad guys – sticks, pipes, cycle chains, bikes, hand carts etc.

There are people who watch movies for entertainment and then there are fans. There are fans of genres or there are fans of heroes. The fans love all the films released on their favourite genre/ hero even if the rest of the world believes it sucks. A friend of mine is a sci-fi fan, watches all the sci-fi movies that are released and describes them all in one word ‘brilliant’. He knows all details of the sci-fi movies that are going to release and believes half the world is waiting for its release. Similarly, Salman and Akshay fans love all the movies released of their favourite heroes irrespective of it being action, comedy or drama.

To conclude, I think a movie’s success to a large extent depends on the number of fans the hero/ director/ genre have. The expectations from a new movie with an unknown director/ cast will be totally different than that of a known director/ cast. Popular genres like thrillers and comedy is more eagerly awaited that drama or musical.