Here comes the Indian superman
GAUTAMAN BHASKARAN
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Indian folklore is full of superheroes. `Krrish' ushers in the celluloid superman.
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AND THE SAGA CONTINUES... :Hrithik Roshan as the leather-clad crusader in Krrish.
Move over Hollywood Superman. The Bollywood Superman is here. Hrithik Roshan takes on this new avatar in father Rakesh's `Krrish.'
Produced and directed by Rakesh, `Krrish' is being released (June 23) just a week before Hollywood's `Superman Returns' hits Indian screens. A clever ploy. For often, the first weekend/week can make or mar the box-office collection. Will `Krrish' mesmerise Indian audiences? Will it negate Warner Brothers' hope to pick up with their `Superman Returns' starring Brandon Routh?
One will never know till the Hrithik character actually somersaults, swims, flies and freezes in what appears like a thrilling exploration of his ethereal powers.
A sequel to Rakesh Roshan's `Koi... Mil Gaya,' where ET Rohit makes earth his home and sires a son, `Krrish' visualises the boy's story, taking off after he has grown into a strapping young man.
The young man, Krrish (after Krishna, of course), is raised in pastoral peace by his grandmother after his parents' death.
The tranquillity is shattered by the romantic intrusion of an attractive television journalist. Krrish is drawn to her and follows her to Singapore, where he meets the bad guy responsible for his parents' death.
Krrish transforms himself into a leather-clad superman, beckons his extraordinary qualities not just to woo his woman, but also to vanquish the villain.
Krrish also sings and foxtrots to calm the viewer's pounding pulse. The narrative is not novel, nor the idea. The superman has always existed in India. Our folklore and mythology are full of such characters, as for example Krishna, Hanuman or even Rama.
Indian movies have always been inspired by such super human prowess.
Celluloid heroes have single-handedly fought dozens of goons in bloody street battles, and performed astounding feats.
Hrithik disagrees with the view that `Krrish' is all about a superman. A publicity brochure quotes him on this: "The movie is not about a superhero saving the world. `Krrish' is an attempt to lay the foundations of a superhero in Indian cinema. This genre was non-existent till date. My character has nothing to do with Spiderman, Superman, Batman or Zorro... `Krrish' is an attempt to open new boundaries and cater to the international market. When we were making `Koi... Mil Gaya' on aliens, people sniggered at us. But we made history. This time too we are going to create magic."
Rakesh seems to have done his best to make `Krrish' akin to what his son dreams of. To make the work truly world class, Rakesh hired Tony Ching, a Hong Kong legend, (`House of Flying Daggers' and `Hero') to train Hrithik in martial arts. Tony has worked with such celebrity helmers like John Woo and Zhang Yimou.
To perfect the visual effects, Rakesh got hold of two experts from Hollywood, Marc Kolbe and Craig A. Mumma, who worked on `Godzilla' and `Independence Day.' These two have already worked with Rakesh on `Koi... Mil Gaya.'
`Krrish's' action sequences, which Rakesh describes as poetry, were filmed mostly in Singapore. The Singapore Tourism Board went out of its way to help. It blocked traffic in the heart of the city to facilitate the shoot.
Rakesh says, "This was necessary because `Krrish's' action scenes required huge industrial cranes. We had to have two, in case one broke down."
All this pushed up `Krrish's' budget to more than Rs. 45 crores (approximately $10 millions). Bollywood will consider this figure huge, but it appears miniscule by Hollywood standards. Warner Brothers' `Superman Returns,' costs more than $200 millions.
Will Rakesh's effort pay off? Why not, he will ask. His reason is simple, maybe too simple. "In fact, when I saw `Lord of the Rings,' where just a ring could carry forward the story into a trilogy, I thought, in `Koi... Mil Gaya,' I had a real living character, who could take the story forward, [after] an alien jadoo [has] bestowed him with super-natural power. I couldn't have left it at that. The concept of that passed-over power would have been incomplete without taking it forward."
And, now comes the punch line. Maybe, the Rakesh-Hrithik saga will not end with `Krrish.' There maybe another sequel to complete the trilogy.
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