The Desi Superheroes!

When it comes to superheroes, it's the Supermans and Spidermans who come flying towards us. A better junky will cling onto the Batman and his trusted aide Robin. These Hollywood imports have such a magical spell on us that we have made it a norm to accept them as 'our' superheroes that are everready to come to our rescue.

But have you ever thought about giving a damn to our own Bollywood superheroes? Now one might say that there has never been one Bollywood superhero. Actually there are but at that time nobody thought of them to be one of those ultimoes! A movie hero is anyway nothing less than a superhero, bashing up 10-20-30 bad asses single-handedly and coming out the winner at the end of it all! So with every film you get to see a superhero every time! But there were some films that disguised the superheroes, but didn't get the adulation as their Hollywood counterparts!

This was even before 'Shaktiman' became the talk of the town! Mukesh Khanna's brawny superhero appeared on the television and quickly caught the children's fancy! 'Shaktiman' allotted Mukesh a huge fan following across the length and breadth of this country! Mukesh had recently dubbed for HANUMAN in the hit animation film. HANUMAN was a genuine mythological superhero that was brought to life on the celluloid, after being interpreted a lot of times on the small screen!

Speaking about animation, the Hollywood film THE INCREDIBLES was released in India in the Hindi version. Shahrukh Khan and his son had done the dubbing for the father-son pair in the film. The film garnered a decent business here in India.

Don't you remember the SHAHENSHAH himself in that famous movie? Amitabh Bachchan's justice seeking tough guy in the film could be termed as the most "down-to-earth" superhero of Hindi films. He played the role with aplomb and his sturdy line 'Rishtey mein to hum tumhare baap lagte hain, aur naam hai Shahenshah' commanded deafening applause from the public.

Amitabh Bachchan attempted a similar part in a film titled TOOFAN, where he played a double role. The hero of the film was a masked horse-riding avenger who comes in as a savior of the villagers. The film was a box-office debacle.

Amitabh again went on to play a similar superhero in AJOOBA, a fantasy film directed by Shashi Kapoor. This time he was more joyful and the lanky actor pulled it off with lan this time too. But even with all the fanfare associated with it, the film bombed at the box-office. The film's failure was looked upon as a big 'ajooba'!

Recently, Ram Gopal Varma had tried to lease the superhero in his film GAAYAB. The film starred Tusshar Kapoor in the title role of a humble guy Vishnu Prasad who is gifted with a supernatural ability to become invisible at his will. Only this time he is not out there for everybody's liberation, but for his own selfish means. Vishnu Prasad wants to win the girl he is obsessed with and uses the gift to his advantage!

Ram Gopal Varma's horror flick DARNA MANA HAI also had an episode in which the hero is granted with a supernatural quality, which allows him to freeze the world whenever he wishes. The role was essayed by Aftab Shivdasani. DMH was well received at the box-office and its sequel DARNA ZAROORI HAI is ready for the theatrical release.

But, one could say now that Hrithik Roshan's film KRRISH can see the resurgence of the real superhero in Bollywood. The theatrical trailer of the film is out and one must say that it is quite impressive. Hrithik's character in the film is called 'Krrish' and he appears to be a cross between Keanu Reeves in MATRIX trilogy and Batman. KRRISH is the sequel to the enormously successful KOI... MIL GAYA and is scheduled to hit the marquee this year. Hrithik had survived a near fatal accident while doing the stunts for KRRISH.

Who says that only Hollywood has got the license to save the world from a calamity! Bollywood is not far behind, you know. It is equally capable of producing some colossal superheroes that are ready to take up the challenge! So will superheroes become 'super'hits this time in Bollywood? If they do, then it might well mark the beginning of a new genre in Hindi cinema!