Reema Kagti got her ADs to make keema samosas at night on Superboys of Malegaon set when they got food wrong for a shot

Director Reema Kagti is a perfectionist. Her actors attest to this. In a freewheeling chat with HT, the team of her upcoming film - Superboys of Malegaon - spoke about her eye for detail on set and Reema talked about how the film shaped up. (Also read: Superboys of Malegaon trailer: Adarsh Gourav pursues indie-filmmaking in slice-of-life story about underdog)

On her attention to detail

Vineet Kumar Singh, who is one of the leads in the film, spoke about how Reema would catch even if a single prop were out of order in a frame. Reema recalled one particular incident herself. "As a prop, we had keema samosas. We were rehearsing, so we didn't place the food. Suddenly, for the first take, I saw a plate of Punjabi samosas coming in, and they were placed in the frame. I yelled, 'These are Punjabi samosas and not keema samosas'. It was a night shoot. So the art department and some of the ADs had to run to the kitchen and start making keema samosas," she said, adding, "But, you have to get it right."

On Superboys of Malegaon

Superboys of Malegaon is based on the life Nasir Shaikh and other amateur filmmakers in Malegaon, and is partly inpsired by the documentary Supermen of Malagaon. Talking about the cinematic liberties and fictionalisation of the story, Reema said, "We haven't made up anything. It may not be historically accurate, or we may have combined a person or two together. We have taken those kinds of liberties but everything is take is from his life."

There has been a lot of chatter about Superboys of Malegaon getting a theatrical release in a post-COVID environment that believes only big films will succeed. Reema herself does not believe in these distinctions. "I find that very reductionist," she said, adding, "Eventually, it is about doing good work. Yes, there's a commercial aspect to it. But filmmaking is art. When you put terms like these, it is very reductive. Any film, whether it's a big blockbuster or an alternative film, if it has good word of mouth, it has rarely not done well. I think that is important."

Superboys stars Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora. Anuj Singh Duhan, and Riddhi Kumar. Produced by Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Reema Kagti, and Ritesh Sidhwani, the film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. It will have its worldwide theatrical release on February 28.