Meet Nasir Shaikh: Struggling wedding photographer turned amateur filmmaker, whose life inspired Zoya Akhtar's Superboys of Malegaon

Superboys of Malegaon, the critically acclaimed, latest venture of Zoya Akhtar and Reema Katgi, has released in India with positive reviews. The film is based on the 2012 documentary Supermen of Malegaon, which narrates the journey of Nasir Shaikh and a few film fanatics who build their own film industry in the least available resources. The new film stars an ensemble cast, including Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora, and Anuj Singh Duhan. In the film Adarsh plays the role of Nasir, the man behind the Malegaon film industry, which is known as Mollywood. Let's learn more about it. 

Who is Nasir Shaikh? 

Nasir Shaikh, a film fanatic, started his career as a wedding videographer. His dream of making his own film inspired him to choose this career, but he failed in it, and was struggling to meet ends. Nasir called cinema as an escape from everyday struggles and highlighted Malegaon's video parlours, where Bollywood classics are screened on large TV screens at a fraction of the cost of real cinema.

How did Nasir start making films? 

Nasir was an "unemployed cinema buff," and his strive to survive inspired him to make films for his community in the mid-2000s. "I decided to make a movie with cheap rented cameras, innovative production hacks, and a crew of equally enthusiastic film fanatics," he told AFP. 

How far Nasir went for his vision

Nasir used to spoof Bollywood and Hollywood films. Nasir gained recognition with Malegaon Ke Sholay and Yeh Hai Malegaon Ka Superman, a caped superhero battles cancer-causing tobacco. To produce films for Malegaon, Nasir invested his savings and raised money from friends to fund his films.

Nasir's work started gaining appreciation and his projects gave birth to "Mollywood." Nasir gained international attention through the documentary Supermen of Malegaon.

Superboys of Malegoan is inspired by the life of Nasir and his writer friend Farogh. Writer-director Varun Grover met Nasir and Farogh in 2012, after the release of their documentary. Grover stayed in touch with Farogh over the years. In 2019, when Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti started researching the film, Grover was brought on-board to write the script.