Here come the superheroes

Ever since Hrithik Roshan hit jackpot at the box office with his superhero act in Krrish (the first superhero film made in India), interest in the genre has been on the rise. Now we learn that Neil Nitin Mukesh has gotten ambitious and wants to challenge his acting skills in a forthcoming film titled Magic Man in which he will have magical powers. "It is one of our new films which we are still to announce," says Shailendra Singh of Percept Picture Company.

Neil's not the only one dabbling in the genre as Shah Rukh Khan is also readying himself for a futuristic sci-fi thriller Ra.1. Though the plot is under wraps, we hear that SRK will play a super robot that works with the intelligence agency.

"There is great scope for the superhero genre. I believe we all fantasise about being a superhero, especially in our childhood. By doing this role, I will get to live my dream. I think this genre will work if made correctly," says Shah Rukh about his movie that will be directed by Anubhav Sinha.

Even Kunal Kapoor is looking to play the classic Raj Comics character Doga -- a sort of an anti-hero. The film, to be directed by Anurag Kashyap, has got Kunal really kicked. "Imagine wearing costumes and the kind of acting you get to do. It will certainly be one of my most challenging roles," says Kunal.

Both SRK and Kunal Kapoor will flaunt their abs in their respective movies and even Neil Nitin is shaping up. The actors say these will be physically challenging roles as they need to do a lot of stunts. "You cannot imagine a superhero without a great body. I'm getting fit as the role demands me to be athletic," says Kunal.

Bollywood, the largest in the world by volume of movies and ticket sales, has never really dabbled in big budget ventures especially in animation and sci-fi. The average cost of a Bollywood movie is somewhere close to $500,000 as compared to the average $14 million spent for a Hollywood movie. The Hindi movie industry generally sees most of its movies bomb at the box office. So why is Bollywood getting into such ambitious ventures?

Says Bobby Chawla, of Red Chillies Entertainment: "It is high time we pushed the envelope and took some risks in creating good films. We should try to make good products and we will surely taste success even in a genre like animation or sci-fi which hardly sees hits in India."

Source: DNAIndia