Superboys of Malegaon at TIFF: Shashank Arora says 'beauty of film festivals is in spreading cinema to the world'
Shashank Arora is no stranger to the festival circuit — in fact, Superboys of Malegaon was his third stint at TIFF.
It’s 22 degrees on a mid-September afternoon. A light breeze is picking up from Lake Ontario and making its way across Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. I am here to meet actor Shashank Arora, fresh off the screening of his film, Superboys of Malegaon at the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
TIFF is Canada’s annual film festival dedicated to celebrating cinema from across the globe. This year, the line-up had this Reema Kagti directorial that in and of itself is a celebration of the spirit of cinema.
As the applause for Superboys of Malegaon poured in from packed venues at TIFF, Arora says the response was nothing short of a “blessing.”
“People seem to resonate with what the film is trying to say. People are here to watch your film from different parts of the world. [I] look forward to coming here and being with other filmmakers,” Arora said.
He is no stranger to film festivals. His films have been screened at Sundance Film Festival (Brahman Naman, 2016), Cannes Film Festival (Titli, 2014) and Locarno Film Festival (The Song of Scorpions, 2017) to name a few. Superboys of Malegaon is his third film at TIFF.
Arora says that these showcases provide a “big boost” to artistes. “A festival has distributors from around the world, audience and eyes from around the world.
Festivals end up webbing and spreading your film out to various markets. The true beauty is in spreading cinema in all corners of the world,” he said.
Superboys of Malegaon has received glowing reviews in Hollywood’s entertainment publications. Deadline has called the film “feel-good coming-of-age story”, while Variety has called it “a moving crowd-pleaser.”
The film is based on real life events of a group of friends from Malegaon who dream of making films. A 2012 documentary by Faiza Ahmad Khan, Malegaon ka Superman, was the first to bring their story to the public.
Superboys of Malegaon delves deeper into their story as a fictionalized biopic. Arora says that to get into the skin of a character, you have to first be vulnerable is. He, in fact, says it’s a superpower.
“Your superpowers are letting your ego go [and] being empathetic. Your superpowers are connecting to people,” Arora said.
At this point, I was done with my questionnaire, but not with the coffee that he had so generously ordered for me. I tell him so. He says he doesn’t need a Q&A to talk cinema. So we talked some more about his beginnings in the Hindi film industry.
He says that for his first film, the 2012 drama film Myoho, he got paid ₹10,000. “I was an extra. I was a young kid who wasn’t paying attention. I was just happy to get the work and the money,” he said.
From a 22-year old “extra” to an artiste whose films festival favourites, Arora views the journey as one of growth.
“If you don’t grow, you are doing something very wrong. I feel like I know my job better. Now I feel this responsibility to myself to tell more stories with this privilege, this audience that I’ve got,” Arora said.
As he decides to stay in Toronto a few extra days, Arora says that he now wants to sit back, write and work on directing a feature film.
But fans of cinema can catch him in Superboys of Malegaon theatre near them on January 25, 2025.