From emotional madness to pure fantasy

Hollywood’s hippest trailers
A throwback to the ’50s, brazen gangsters and conflicted cops, the return of the world’s favourite wizard, a life on the edge, hitting rock bottom, fire fighting, technology gone right – Instep gives you five trailers that will leave you inspired, surprised and provoked.

By Maheen Sabeeh and Saba Imtiaz

Public Enemies

*ing Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard

Directed by Michael Mann
The trailer for Public Enemies looks like a 1930s era Ocean’s Eleven combined with a quissential 21st century tale of good v/s evil – a theme that seems to have reflected in a number of movies post 9/11, particularly last year’s blockbuster The Dark Knight. The trailer sees Johnny Depp and a number of gangsters breaking into banks – replete with the female attraction in the form of French actress Marion Cotillard – and the quest of the Feds to take them down, helmed by Christian Bale. Depp appears rakish and gleefully criminal, quoting the line “We’re here for the bank’s money, not yours” with confident abandon. Set to a resounding theme song ‘Ten Million Slaves’ by Otis Taylor, Public Enemies has already garnered some considerably praise-worthy reviews – but this trailer proves why Depp can carry off a film with such flair!
– Release: July 2009

The Time Traveler’s Wife

*ing Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams and Ron Livingston

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Based on the best-seller novel of the same name, The Time Traveler’s Wife has been in the works for quite a while, with rumours that Jennifer Aniston had bought rights to its cinematic adaptation. This poignant, romantic tale based on a man who is afflicted with a strangely uncontrollable problem – that he travels through time – was a tearjerker in print, and if the trailer is anything to go by, the film will be too. Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams star in the leads as the star-crossed, fated lovers. While one would have thought the tale would be very difficult to film, in the trailer it seems to have been done with a surreal special effect to show Eric disappearing suddenly. The trailer is made even more poignant by the choice of background music: Lifehouse’s ‘Broken’ plays as the score, a song that talks about broken clocks and vanishing time. This will definitely be worth watching!
– Release: August 2009

Veronika Decides To Die

*ing Sarah Michelle Gellar, David Thewlis and Melissa Leo

Directed by Emily Young

Author Paulo Coelho has sold millions of books around the world and this film is an adaptation from one of his most successful books, ever. But this really isn’t about the author and his capability as a storyteller. Whether you are a Coelho fan or not is irrelevant to this film or the trailer for that matter.

For one thing, the film follows the subject of madness, which, let’s face it, is always intriguing or so is the human condition and mind. The clincher is the opening of the trailer which is a far cry from the mundane action/adventure sci-fi gone overboard one catches on the tube these days. It’s subtle and hits slowly quite like the subject itself.

“At 28, Veronika had everything but the will to go on. She never expected to find it with only days to live.”

It’s shot with such torment, mystery and hope that it makes one want to watch the film irrespective of taste for actors, directors and genres. Plus this may be the most definitive and challenging role Sarah Michelle Gellar has taken on since her cult hit show

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and her previous breakthrough flick Cruel Intentions (1999).
– Release: 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

*ing Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman

Directed by David Yates

JK Rowling’s Harry Potter is a phenomenon. The franchise has spanned five films so far and with every film, its actors, Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Potter) alongside his loyal friends Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) have grown up, as individuals and more importantly, as actors.

Even those who don’t identify with the books/film will be blown away by its jaw-dropping majestic theatrics and universal storyline. By now, the story is out but its the
potions of emotions of the story mixed with the cinematography, aerial shots, flashes of lake of fire, of friendships and survival, death and loss – all encompassed together that makes this trailer such an incredible watch.
“This place has known magic. Very dark, very powerful. This time, I cannot hope to destroy it alone. Times like these, dark times, they can bring people together. They can tear them apart.”

Even though Harry Potter’s name itself is enough to set the global box office on fire and still captivates millions around the world, the trailer, for the latest in the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, deepens the magic of the wizarding world.
– Release: July 2009

Shutter Island

*ing Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams and Emily Mortimer

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese teams up with his favourite actor Leonardo DiCaprio after working with him in The Aviator, Gangs of New York and The Departed to make Shutter Island. Set in the 1950s, the film sees Leo don the same look and accent as he did for the 2008 film set in the same era, Revolutionary Road. But Shutter Island looks like a departure for Scorsese from his brand of mafia-centric films. The trailer is inherently creepy and mysterious. Shutter Island sees Leo – playing a US Marshal – go to an eerie psychiatric facility to investigate how a patient escaped but the trailer depicts him entering into a bizarre world where he may end up becoming a patient himself. If the trailer is anything to go by, this may turn out to be one of the most talked-about films of the year. But will it garner Leonardo the elusive Oscar nomination? Time will tell.

– Release: October 2009

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag has no fire!

If you thought Umran Jaan’s remake was bad, think again. RGV Ki Aag is undoubtedly the worst remake Bollywood can boast of to date. It is a distortion of a classic and plagued with flaws. Instep takes a look… By Maheen Sabeeh  There are some films that don’t need to be remade to be remembered. And Sholay is one of them. It is India’s spaghetti western, with the age-old moral tale of standing up to wrong. What sets Sholay apart is that it is a basic film with great moments, fabulous acting that came to define a historic film. Sholay is the ultimate masala movie (friendship, romance, revenge, morality all tied together in a neat western package) but at its finest hour. To this day Amjad Khan is remembered as Gabbar Singh and those immortal lines, “Kitnay Aadmi Thay?” remain embedded in memory.Ram Gopal Varma, in one of his many interviews, has stated that he has seen Sholay umpteen times and claims that RGV Ki Aag is his most original film to date. “Did he really see Sholay?” – That is the question that comes to mind after one is done watching the awful, awful film that is RGV Ki Aag. Varma has achieved a new level of distortion with this film and from a filmmaker who previously gave films like Rangeela, Satya and Company, it is an unthinkable disappointment.
Sholay was set in a village and villages define the real India. Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta may be the home to the stars but the heart of India resides in villages. But for this film to be modern, Varma just had to move the location to Mumbai. Then again, leaving films like Iqbal, Lagaan and Swades, modern day India is equivalent to the major metropolises-alone in Bollywood so one can make peace with that. As for the story, it is still the same but the setting has changed. The novelty that comes with a film, that freshness is gone. You know the beginning, the middle and the end but you still want to see what Varma has done and that is a silly mistake.
Here’s what he has done: he has taken some fine actors (Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen) and new comers (Prashant Raj and Nisha Kothari) and has reduced them ALL to zero. There are none of those immortal lines (“Kine aadmi thhe?”, “Soja, warna Gabbar aa jaayega” or “Yeh haath mujhe de-de Thakur”). You miss those lines. Sholay wasn’t just about the melodrama. It was also about the dialogues that have disappeared from RGV’s remake.In the original Sholay, Veeru (Dharmendra) teaches Basanti (Hema Malini) how to use a gun to shoot mangoes off trees. In 2007, Heero (Ajay Devgan) teaches Ghungroo (Nisha Kothari) to do so because she likes guns. The innocence is lost!
A major subplot in the film was the friendship between Veeru and Jai. “Yeh dosti hum nahin choraingay…” In this film, that chemistry between Heero and Raj just doesn’t exist. This film is a testament to the complex reality that surrounds us. And hence, Babban muses that whether people die on his hands or Al-Qaeda or America, it simply doesn’t matter. But this texture doesn’t save the film at all because it is uninviting.Every witty moment or moments of tragedy, grief and faith are gone. Prashant who plays Jai (now called Raj) shamelessly tries to copy Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai but misses every time. It’s as if he is incapable of emotions that sweep you in.His buddy, the otherwise brilliant Ajay Devgan who plays Heero is not as charming as Dharmendra, pouting his way to the end of the film. When he puts a gun to his head as he brags about committing suicide, you wish he’d just pull the trigger.Post Omkara, Ajay Devgan has delivered a series of bad films like Golmaal and Cash. RGV Ki Aag can now join this list.
Sushmita Sen is average because she just couldn’t carry the emotional baggage of a widow as the brilliant Jaya Bachchan. But she is mostly in the background and you’re grateful for that. Mohanlal does an awful job of playing the skillfully understated Sanjeev Kumar. With that beard and that accent, he looks more like an angry Inzamam than the great Thakur of Ramgarh or in this case Inspector of Mumbai. Dude, this isn’t Company. The same rules don’t apply.However, the worst acting honours belong to two actors: Nishat Kothari for that over-the-top hyper behaviour that is referred to as acting. Clearly, it was a lot more than acting. It was over acting. In the original Basanti was a talkative but lovable village girl. Nisha as Ghungroo is a loud, somewhat lewdly dressed pain to watch.
When one first heard that Gabbar’s name in this film is Babban, it was odd. Now it fits. Amitabh Bachchan is seriously bad, in tems of interpretation. How he ever agreed to do this film will always remains a mystery. He is a pale shadow on Gabbar Singh. Babban is like a drug addict, and it seems that he hasn’t taken a shower since the film started rolling.In between Babban mumbles and the reference is to George Bush and Al-Qaeda but it is as if it’s more of an attempt to make Babban seem modern than anything else. He rolls his eyes, snarls, swears and is just a mockery of Indian cinema’s greatest villain. The asthma-like laugh of Amitabh doesn’t make you want to copy him. You feel disgusted at the unkempt villain residing in a cave. What is wrong with him? Gabbar was psychotic but on a different level. This one belongs only in a zoo and certainly not onscreen. You would think that technology would be the saving grace of this film. But no. In a film like Nishabd, the camera was focused on Jiah Khan. From her eating to her dancing in water, the camera would zoom in all the time. It was Varma’s way of seducing the audience. But here, why is the focus on Nisha Kothari’s legs or Sushmita Sen’s dupatta or Mohanlal’s beard? Come on, that is just not visually gripping.All you want to ask RGV is this: why did he make this remake? Was it because his last few productions barring Sarkar didn’t do well at the box office or was it a smart ploy of making money off a classic? When you announce a remake of Sholay, it will generate enough curiosity to get people to watch the film. Remaking a classic is a daunting task. Look at Umrao Jaan’s remake or even Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s remake of Devdas. While Umrao Jaan takes the cake for being an absolute horror, even Bhansali’s Devdas was not as powerful, even if it was a commercial success, as the original. It even messed with the classic by making two characters, Paro and Chandramukhi meet.The remake of Don was a commendable effort. It did belong to the new age but when compared to the original, it had a variety of flaws. Same was the case with Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice. A film is a classic because every angle, be it the story, the acting, the cinematography or the music, stands out. In this day and age, remakes hardly ever work even if they end up making money. The soul is usually missing even if the level of glamour is at its peak. Take Miami Vice from Hollywood. Even with Jamie Foxx and bad boy Colin Farell, it couldn’t hold its ground when compared to the original. It is more difficult to make a remake than an original. Because even if an original film is bad, it can’t be compared to anything else! Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan, both of whom RGV has criticized – Shah Rukh is too stereotypical for RGV to work with and Karan Johar makes frivolous films according to Varma – are probably laughing away at the monstrosity that RGV Ki Aag is. According to one trade report, RGV Ki Aag is the biggest box office dud in history. And that’s not surprising at all.

Hasan Zaidi on the changing dynamics of cinema in Pakistan

“Awarapan is an Indian film and yet Khuda Kay Liye is giving it a run for its money. It’s a good omen.”  – Hasan Zaidi

Having attended Cannes this year, Karafilm Festival director Hasan Zaidi understands both the art and the business of cinema. A filmmaker himself, Hasan speaks with Instep about Cannes, censorship laws, Indian films, the future of Karafilm and that of films in Pakistan…

By Maheen Sabeeh

Instep: What did you think of Khuda Kay Liye? Hasan Zaidi: It is a very daring and nuanced film. The actors were good. I felt that it could’ve been tighter in length. One technical glitch that I saw was the folly sound. It basically means that when you dub a film, sound is put into it like the sound of someone walking and so forth. That was missing. But that is a small glitch. Khuda Kay Liye is overall a good film that is definitely engaging.Instep: The success of Khuda Kay Liye has broken myths about the kinds of films that can work in Pakistan. It is unlike most Pakistani films and yet, it has done phenomenal business all over Pakistan.
HZ: Khuda Kay Liye has broken a number of myths. The myth that people from television can’t make successful films is broken. Secondly, if a film is relevant, topical and well-made, it has as much chance of success as any great movie. It is a fallacy that formula film works. No one can predict which film will work and which won’t. One hopes that with the success of Khuda Kay Liye, cinema exhibitors, distributors and investors will be brave enough to take chances with different kinds of films. Awarapan is an Indian film and yet Khuda Kay Liye is doing equally well. They are running side by side and KKL is giving Awarapan a run for its money. It is a good omen.
Instep: A new wave of filmmakers are coming into the scene. Is a change near? HZ: One film, be it even Khuda Kay Liye, can’t revive Pakistani cinema. But yes, when new filmmakers come in with different stories and it is on a consistent pace, one is optimistic that a change will come about. If one film is successful and so is the second and a third, then momentum will pick up.There is also a huge pressure on cinemas now. There aren’t enough cinemas operating in the country. You have Kaafila, The Last Legion, Marigold – all these films coming in and not enough cinemas to exhibit these films. Prince doesn’t want to lose KKL because it’s doing very well; Nishat wants to continue running Awarapan because it is also doing good. Now where do you put up these new films? With new cinemas and new filmmakers, a complete change will come. Until then one can only be optimistic!
Instep: Awarapan has released in local cinemas and Kaafila is set to open. What is your take on this? HZ: I recently had a discussion with people in the government about this. You cannot imagine how bizarre these laws are. The original law was that any film with either any Indian content or Indian actors or Indian production was not allowed in Pakistan. They modified it recently to allow films which have international co-productions shot abroad to be screened.
Instep: Then what about films like Mughal-e-Azam? HZ: That was a special exemption from the president. There is no institutionalization in anything. Everyone knows that Javed Fazil’s film was completely shot in India. But the government responses by saying ‘Oh but one can’t tell’. That is the kind of logic that works here.Indian films are being watched in Pakistan as it is. There are arguments that Indian films will destroy the Pakistani film industry. But our industry has already been destroyed. What we need to do is capitalize on where we lack the most, which is good scripts, technical expertise, trained crew and labs.If you allow Indian films to be released here, more people will watch it, but when money comes in the box office, someone’s got money, they’ll be like, ‘these films are working, why shouldn’t I make my film and run it?’
Instep: In simple terms, what needs to be done with the censorship laws? HZ: The problem with censorship laws is that they are completely arbitrary. It depends on who is sitting in the room and what they find objectionable. In order for all these bizarre laws to change, someone needs to take an initiative. It either has be in the Parliament or an Executive Order because some of these aren’t even laws. They are just rules that can be overturned.
Instep: Is Karafilm Festival technically legal? HZ: Now it is. But it’s tentative. We do have the permission to hold the festival but it’s not there in the law. If someone else wants to do a similar festival, it’ll be technically illegal. Again they will have to go and ask for special exemption. What we’ve been constantly telling them is that it’s great that you’ve given us the support but we need to go beyond it and towards an institutional support. Instep: Tell us about joint collaborations with India. The Bhatts have been coming here and Pakistani musicians are going there and so forth. But what more needs to happen? HZ: Joint collaborations have been happening for the last 5-6 years. Every big Pakistani film is a joint collaboration with India. Main Ek Din Laut Ke Aaonga was entirely shot in India with an Indian actress; Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye was edited in India; Yeh Dil Aap Ka Hua had its post production done there and so on. Singers, crews, choreographers, all are Indians.
It should be institutionalized because it’s already happening and we have to gain from it. I’m not in favor of going there and shooting. It should be done here so people can learn here. They’ll come and spend money here. They’ll use local people and people will earn jobs, spend money here. When it comes to technical expertise, Bollywood has become equal to Hollywood.The other thing is to be able to use their actors. If I have a role, which isn’t fit for an actor here, why shouldn’t I be able to go across the border? It’s because that role cannot be done by a foreigner. It can only be done by one of us, someone whose skin color is the same, talks in the same language.
Plus with joint collaboration, you have this huge market opening up. If you have a big release here, they release like 25-30 prints. In India, they release 200-300 prints and that’s just Bollywood.We also have this fantasy that video music directors will make great film directors. The number of video music directors who’ve actually made it big can be counted on one hand because it’s a completely different genre all together. A music video shot is not for more than 2-3 seconds, where you hold the shot and tell the story. It becomes very difficult for people who’re not used to it but never the less, I’m sure there are some people who may make a mark. Saqib Malik is a very good prospect. Will he ever get to make that film? I mean its getting delayed for what ever reasons but you can’t expect the industry to become good, if you don’t allow it to grow.
The other thing that they keep saying is that these films are against Pakistan, not mine, but generally that is a huge problem. Look at A Mighty Heart, the story is such that in no way it paints a great picture of Pakistan; someone came here and got killed. America has such films, but in the outside world people see it as one part of the country. Instep: Last year, there were number of people who were supposed to come to Karafilm Festival – Saif Ali Khan, Jafar Panahi, Anupam Kher and Shiney Ahuja – why couldn’t they come? HZ: Their tickets had gone out but different people had different issues. Anupam Kher suddenly called and said ‘my father is ill and I have to go to Simla’. Shiney Ahuja was shooting a film and he thought could get away for a few days but the shooting extended, so he couldn’t make it.
Saif Ali Khan and his girlfriend were both supposed to come but at the last minute, I don’t know, some shooting and date problems came up. There’s only so much you can do planning wise. I mean, we’re not paying them and you can’t force them. They’re doing it out of goodwill.Jafar Panahi had a different issue. He was attending various festivals including Kara. He went to get a visa at the Pakistan embassy. The embassy made him spent the whole day there. We were told that he’ll get the visa the same day because he had just that one day to get the visa and they told him to come back another day and he said ‘I can’t do it, I don’t have another day’.
Instep: How do you guys run Karafilm Festival in terms of finance? HZ: This was the first year that we’ve actually been able to establish an office. Earlier on, it was all being operated from my home and eventually my house was full of Kara stuff. It just became ridiculous and we desperately needed to move out. Whenever we had little bit of money leftover from office expenses, we used to think what if we don’t have enough money next year, so we kept it aside. But then it became impossible to operate from home. We didn’t have space for volunteers anymore. We’ve basically been operating from our pockets and this time we had a little bit of sponsorship. Instep: What are the future plans for Karafilm Festival? HZ: One is Kara Academy, which is basically going to provide training in various spheres of filmmaking because there is a huge need for it. It’s long term but the plan is definitely there.The second is Kara Distribution. The films that are shown at Karafilm Festival, only we have the rights for screening them. So we’re looking into ways of how they can be shown. The idea is not to go for DVDs initially because that can get copied… but looking into more in terms of selling its rights to television channels.We have huge number of contacts around the world via festivals and people come here as well, buyers and distributors. People are interested in using us a means to promote their films, and at the same time, to promote Pakistani cinema abroad with Kara distribution.The third thing is the Kara Film Club which basically means having screening throughout the year. We haven’t worked out a way just yet. It will be something you can become a member of and can watch screenings every week or couple of nights. Instep: Other than film makers, the public and actors, have distributors or buyers attended Karafilm Festival? HZ: A few but not a huge number. I mean we don’t have what is called a ‘market’. The biggest part of a festival is what’s known as a market. They have thousands of marketers and distributors. In fact, Cannes is mostly industry; it’s not geared towards people alone. Generally there’s a small portion, where you have people coming in and watching the films but generally the rest of it is either the industry itself meaning a producer or a director or a sound technician or cinematographer. You have to show your documentation to show why you are part of the festival and there is the bigger portion where the distributors, exhibitors and the buyers are present from all over the world so obviously we’re not at that stage yet. Hopefully, eventually we’ll like to establish a market as an important part of the festival but right now you can’t even sell a film in Pakistan, let alone someplace else. But nevertheless, we have people who come just to look at the festival. Instep: What are the major problems when it comes to filmmaking? HZ: Film finance is a big issue everywhere in the world. In Pakistan, the issue is more because people don’t see a return on it. In abroad, you have institutions or finance banks who’ll fund films. They’ll give loans. Here, there are not even willing to do that. People don’t think it’s worth it. So we’ve given proposals that we need to create some sort of funding for films or financial institutions to set aside a certain amount for films. All the books are all doctored. But suppose they were forced to do this, to give funding, they’ll make sure that the books are not doctored. They’ll force us to be more transparent. The other thing we need to focus on is how to develop better scripts because that’s the major problem with Pakistani show business and the reason is nobody is willing to put money in the scripts. You have script writers who’ve written ten scripts at one time just to make money. The quality will definitely suffer. I mean, 50,000-100,000 rupees is being given to write a script. They don’t realize that appropriate time is not spent on the script so that has to be changed. Also creating some sort of award competition for good scripts might incline a change. Instep: What is your verdict on A Mighty Heart since you saw it at Cannes Film Festival this year? HZ: There is a misconception about A Mighty Heart being shot in India and not Karachi. All the outside shows have been shot right here. Some parts are shot in India. Interiors could’ve been shot anywhere. The biggest problem that I saw in the film is that it didn’t give me any insight beyond what I already knew, having read the book. Knowing Michael Winterbottom’s versatility and talent I kept wondering why he’s making this film and I kept hoping it’ll bring something more to it. It’s a very straight forward film but I wanted more from it. I couldn’t see any depth in the film. Instep: Being a festival director yourself, how was it going to the Cannes Film Festival? HZ: I tried to look at the way they organize things. There are certain things one can look at: the importance of good scripts, that’s what the audiences really appreciate. There infrastructure is massive and in just their main venue, they have 16 or 17 cinemas. On the other hand, access to general public is limited there. It would be really nice if we could have some sort of permanent venue for Kara. That’s something we’ve been looking into. Obviously, it’s a long term plan. But it’s a quite mind boggling experience. No matter what one’s heard about it, the scale of it and the grandeur… it’s huge! I mean we were 3 or 4 Pakistanis there, Satish Anand was also there and we were talking about how to bring a Pakistani film to Cannes. Obviously, the first step has to be better films. There is an interesting type of beginning that is happening where Shoaib Mansoor’s film is out, Saqib Malik’s film is coming, Mehreen Jabbar’s film is coming and my film is also coming. A new kind of cinema is starting up and hopefully in the next 2-3 years, we’ll start getting new types of Pakistani films which actually might be good enough to be showcased around the world. I do hope that I get to go to Cannes next year as well. The first year at Cannes is like an orientation class, you get to figure out what’s going since it’s so huge. Instep: You met with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Michael Winterbottom. How was that? HZ: I’ve met Michael many times before. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were fine. They were normal as they can be. I was able to meet them because there was a private dinner after the screening and that way I properly met them. 50 -60 people were at the dinner. But the problem with the stars is, because they are so famous, they are monitored and controlled by their handlers. Their handlers were always trying to isolate them from the people. But they were fine. Instep: Can we expect A Mighty Heart at Karafilm Festival this year? HZ: I was thinking about it because I was talking to people I thought it would be nice given that the film is about Karachi and Pakistan to have the screening here. So many Pakistanis are involved with it that it would be nice to have it just for their sake. But I’m not sure right now. Instep: What about Brad and Angelina… HZ: Both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie said we’ll love to come and as a commitment to you, we’ll come. But I still think it’s a very small chance because you have to deal with their handlers, they might want to come, but their handlers would say, ‘don’t go there’. Instep: Are you working on a film? HZ: Yes. The only thing I can talk about is that it is a thriller. The script is almost done. I have some people in mind but right now I can’t say much. It is a film set in Karachi again and one liner would be ‘love and crime in Karachi’. It will not be screened at Karafilm Festival because work will start after the festival. It is geared towards a commercial release.

A reality check on superheroes

Why are we so fascinated by men who fly, who change colour or who appear out of dark alleys in black capes? Instep analyzes our love for fairy tales and how ancient knights in shining armour have simply changed form to modern day superheroes!

By Maheen Sabeeh.

The phenomenon Last year Hrithik made a comeback into Bollywood with Krrish and what a comeback that was! Krrish worked like magic at the box office. In leaped the black masked hero and up went the box office ratings. Krrish won Hrithik many awards and accolades and now the film has even won him a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor, beating Ajay Devgan for Omkara and Aamir Khan for Fanaa in an unbelievable round of muscles over brains. Was Hrithik really that brilliant compared to Ajay and Aamir? Not at all. But he was the original Indian superhero, sent with powers to slay all evil. As always, the public fell for good over evil. Omkara and Rehaan Khan (Fanaa) were, after all, too human and too flawed. Compared to them, Krrish was a flawless SUPERHERO who stood tall dark and handsome in the path of wrongdoers! He protected the innocent, punished the guilty and hey, his dance moves may have been inspired by The Incredibles but at least he danced. The dark Omkara and double-faced Rehaan didn’t stand a chance!

2006 truly was the year of everything fantastical from superheroes, mutants, dragons, bespectacled wizards and more. They went from strength to strength and 2007 will be no different. This year will mark the release of some of the most high-profile superhero films. Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four 2, The Incredible Hulk, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghost Rider (starring Nicolas Cage) among many others. Krrish will return in 2008 but we are sure Bollywood will find a way to stay in sync with the world of all things unreal. Our local princes in shining armour may not have been as savvy as Spiderman or Superman, but it’s not that Pakistan hasn’t been touched by the magic of fantasy at all. Ainak Wala Jin was our very own very humble superhero. At a time when there was no cable for choice, kids relied upon state TV and waited day after day for the Ainak Wala Jin. He was a man dressed in long maroon jacket with his buddy Zakoota and kid character Imran, both fighting Bilbatori, a wicked witch of some sort.Now with technology a bit more advanced, Captain Safeguard is a hit amongst children in Pakistan. The twenty-minute commercial that is repeated on all channels has the kids glued to TV sets. The characters are those our kids can own up to and except for the germ busting hero himself, they have all been localized exceptionally well. Now you may ask why, in this era of advanced technology and cut throat logic, are we the people of the world, smitten with muscle bulging freaks who wear lycra and fly over skyscrapers? Why do these films continue to remain a winning formula world over?

The big question: why? Why do they fascinate us? They fascinate us because we live in a world that is under constant threat. Terrorism, wars, religious battles, global warming, identity crises and much more, all make for headline news on a daily basis. We live in fear all the time, every day and indifference is just no longer possible. World leaders are leading us into wars, politicians are turning systems upside downs and all institutions one would look up to in normal circumstances are failing us. This collapse of reality calls for unreal solutions and hence the superheroes. For a moment we are led to believe that solutions are possible, though they are as far fetched as the protagonists themselves. They touch our lives with hope, as distant as it may be.

The NBC television show Heroes one example of how the media is making fantasy more convincing. It has taken the television world by storm and competes with shows like Lost and Grey’s Anatomy though the latter too appeals to fantasy by making the doctors modern day superheroes who are capable of saving lives in the direst of situations. Can Heroes really save the world? Unlikely, but as long as it suggests that human beings may evolve, it keeps the optimism up.Another important reason is that many of these superheroes are underdogs of the society. They personify the unpopular kid, the geek who has been rejected by society. Clark Kent and Peter Parker are two key examples. The Daredevil is another, as even being blind doesn’t stop him from achieving the impossible.