Meet Krrish's predecessors: Nagin, Ajooba and Superman

There’s probably an angry rant to be written about how when Iron Man and Mystique are placed in Krrish 3’s Third World context, they become Scrap Heap Man and Chhipkali, sorry Chameleon Woman, but rather than expend our energy on negativity, we’d like to rewind to vintage Bollywood. The Krrish saga began with Koi…Mil Gaya (2003), Rakesh Roshan’s take on Steven Spielberg’s much-loved E.T. The Extraterrestrial and a precursor of the Na’vi (alien, blue, big eyes, healing powers; Cameron totes copied Roshan). [caption id=“attachment_1202681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A poster of Krrish 3[/caption] Krrish 3 is the third part of the tale and, judging from the trailer, it’s a mashup of Mission Impossible II and The Dark Knight with a sprinkling of supervillains inspired by X-Men and Iron Man. By which we mean, it is, for all practical purposes, an original sum of copied parts. However, lest we forget, Krrish and his clan aren’t the first Bollywood superheroes. Here are a few of the fantastical men and women who have helped fire our imaginations over the years and have often made us intensely thankful for not possessing any superpowers. Superman (1980)

Richard Donner directed Superman in 1978. Two years later, NT Rama Rao decided Telugu cinema needed its own Superman. The costume had same colours although instead of S, there’s H emblazoned on the shirt (maybe it stands for hope). He has a paunch and more expressive eyebrows than any Hollywood superhero. However, inspired as Hollywood as it may be, the challenges faced by NTR’s Superman were very distinctly local, like men in checked suits and an evil, lustful villainess who raises monsters by slashing her arm and letting her blood drip on the earth, thereby causing the ground to crack. Out of this crack emerges a chap who lumbers around, wearing a priest’s cassock and a mask. Scawy. Superman (1987)

If you look up B. Gupta, you will realise this is the man to thank for legendary examples of kitsch, like Jaani Dushman and Bees Saal Baad. Gupta directed only one film, as far as IMDb records show, and it is Superman starring Puneet Issar as the hero who can run faster than a train and who was born on another planet where everyone wore hospital gowns. After seeing Dharmendra in a shiny blue gown (the enormous armholes of which reveal his naked torso from time to time) and Ranjita Kaur in a tiara — they played Superman’s biological parents — one can’t help but feel relieved that their planet imploded. On earth, Shekhar/Superman has a series of challenges and an irritant in Shakti Kapoor. These are all executed with the help of ridiculous plot twists, terrible acting and ghastly special effects. The dialogue includes gems like, “Our flight has been hijacked. Please bear with us.” It’s rare to find a kitschy film that becomes unwatchable even when condensed into 1 minute 23 seconds on YouTube, but this is one of them. Nagina (1986)

Sridevi doesn’t get enough credit for having managed what Amitabh Bachchan couldn’t — make a successful superhero movie. (Bachchan had a disaster with Ajooba. See below.) In Nagina, Sridevi played an ichchhadhaari naagin, or a snake that can take human form and the film was an massive hit. Cursed to become a snake at least once a day, Sridevi’s Rajni is a good wife by day and contact-lensed snake-woman by night. Hunting her down is the evil tantrik, played by Amrish Puri whose weapon of choice is the been. The film had all the elements that are now staples of the superhero genre and Sridevi also had some unforgettable dance moves in the song, “Main teri dushman”. Nagina spawned an entire genre of serpentine films, including Mallika Sherawat-starrer Hisss. Sheshnaag (1990)

This film had one heck of a star cast: Jeetendra, Rekha, Rishi Kapoor, Mandakini, Anupam Kher and as the arch villain, Danny Denzongpa. Jeetendra played one half of a magical snake couple who in their human forms unearth buried treasure (he and his partner have beams coming out of their temples and these beams make the ground split wide open to reveal gold coins etc. No doubt the ASI was wishing they had Jeetendra’s Sheshnaag avatar while digging around Unnao). Rekha played an abused wife and devoted sister whose body is possessed by the snake that is actually Jeetendra’s partner. She has some crazy make up and crazier outfits in this film, particularly in the dance sequence near the end. Denzongpa as the evil Aghori managed to keep a straight face while saying lines like, “Aghoris were made by Satan. A thousand Satans were killed and set on fire. Their ashes were mixed with the blood of a thousand lizards. A statue was made of this mixture. That statue was covered with crocodile hide. Instead of fingers, it was given scorpion’s stingers and that’s how the Aghori was born.” Also in this cocktain of craziness is Rishi Kapoor as Bhola, Rekha’s brother and Mandakini’s lover. The special effects look like they’ve been cut and pasted out of Amar Chitra Katha comics. Rajsri has put the entire film online for your viewing pleasure. Just be warned: some of Rekha’s outfits could blind you. Ajooba (1991)

In this film Amitabh Bachchan as Ajooba did something no superhero as ever done: he fought a stuffed toy. At a climactic moment, Ajooba shows up in a dungeon that is guarded by a tiger. What can he do but fight this ferocious, prowling beast? And so, Bachchan rolls around a dusty floor, hugging an enormous stuffed tiger. Ajooba was made with a lot of hope. It’s quite obviously an expensive production for its time. One look at the costumes and it seems all the fancy soft furnishings stores were emptied of their jazziest fabrics. Palaces and forts and dungeons were constructed. Plush toys were bought and real animal footage — dolphins and elephants play critical roles in the film — was procured. Oh, and a star cast was assembled: Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Sonam, Shammi Kapoor, Saeed Jaffery, Amrish Puri and even Dara Singh. Ajooba (Bachchan) is the prince of the fictional Bahristan who is smuggled out when the evil Wazir (Puri) overthrows the king played by Shammi Kapoor. Being a magical kid who has been blessed by a star that hurtled through the heavens to land in the Bahristani royal palace, Ajooba can’t be strangled or poisoned. While Ajooba did fight evil and vanquish all sorts of black magic, he couldn’t charm audiences. Years later, Bachchan’s son Abhishek would try his hand at being a fantasy hero in Drona. Like Ajooba, Drona was also a meteoric flop.