WATCH | EXCLUSIVE! Zoya Akhtar on Superboys of Malegaon: ‘Some in Bollywood steal credit...'

Superboys of Malegaon is a heartwarming story of Nasir Shaikh, an amateur filmmaker from the town of Malegaon, and his ragtag group of friends. The film has already garnered significant international acclaim through its successful run on the film festival circuit.

The film truly celebrates the magic of cinema and makes you believe that story is the real boss. One needs to watch the film in theatres as it releases in theatres on February 28 to understand as to why writer is the true hero.

WATCH the video of the interview here:

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Have you ever noticed this power play among friends? Like in _Superboys of Malegaon_ , Nasir Shaikh wants to take the whole credit. Have you ever noticed this in your directing career?

More from Entertainment

'Jugnuma' Movie Review: Manoj Bajpayee-Deepak Dobriyal’s terrific performances stood out in this beautifully restrained way of storytelling 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale' Movie Review: The final goodbye of Julian Fellowes’s beloved British soap

No, I am very lucky. I work with people that are very secure, but I have seen it in the industry. I have seen it happen to my friends in the industry. I have seen it happen to writers. I’ve seen it all. Wherever people can steal credit or add their own credit to another person’s job, they do so. But it has never really happened with me.

And I guess it is inspired from Supermen of Malegaon, which was a documentary…

We saw the actual documentary, and I loved it. But the documentary is about the making of the film. And, two or three years later, I was at a film festival in Delhi and, I recognized Nasir across the room and he recognized me and then I went up to him and spoke with him and then we became kind of friends. And, you know, we stayed in touch and he’d come to Bombay and called me and I met him a couple of times. And I was quite intrigued with him and then he started telling me about his life.

I felt Supermen of Malegaon was a hugely moving story that could have been made into a film. So this is actually ten years of his life, before he made Supermen.

How much has Nasir changed over a period of time since you’ve recently met him, Zoya?

Well, he’s changed as much as we have. So everyone’s older, wiser, a little less bombastic, you know, more mature, more comfortable with themselves. I’m a filmmaker. He’s a filmmaker. We have all grown up. But that hunger is there. Like, he wants to make a bigger film now. He wants to work in Malegaon, but he’s already writing another movie. So that hunger, the compulsion, to actually create is still there,

Are you also very choosy with the movies that you want to direct? Each movie is very different from the other.

I think we are the audience before we are filmmakers. So we love movies. We love different kinds of stories. It’s also challenging to step into and create a new world every time, you know, and a new milieu, that kind of wakes you up a little bit. When I am making something new, the feeling is very nice.

And we are picky because you spend at least two, three years of your life from the writing stage to releasing. You’re spending two or three years of your life with that story. So it has to be something that holds you. That milieu has to excite you. Otherwise, why bother?

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s film will be released on February 28.

WATCH the trailer of Superboys of Malegaon here: