"Hymns to the magic of filmmaking tend to be more entrancing when there is some ineptitude involved", which is why the Hindi-language comedy "Superboys of Malegaon" is "so engaging", said Jonathan Romney in the Financial Times.
Based on a true story, it's about a young film buff named Nasir (Adarsh Gourav) who runs a video parlour showing films on VHS, in the Indian city of Malegaon. The business is struggling because Nasir's programme of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films doesn't attract audiences, but then he gets the idea of showing pirated videos in which these silent classics are mashed up with Bollywood films. They prove a hit, and before long he is making films himself, roping in friends to shoot "made-in-Malegaon" parodies of Bollywood hits. Romantic subplots aside, the film is "very much a story about men's friendship and flaws", and its "genial ensemble cast" is nicely headed by Gourav, who proves a "personable" onscreen presence.
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