I chose to mention Amitabh Bachhan at the end of the paragraph because he would soon be a part of another super-hero movie and this time, the formula will fail and the movie with a staggering budget of 8 crores (keeping in mind the time and adjusting it to inflation, it was a humongous budget) would fall flat in the face. In 1991, Sashi Kapoor, trying his hand at the art of film-making, will come up with Ajooba– a mammoth of a movie that would incorporate Arabian mythology to make it tick. This movie had all the razzmatazz- lavish sets, a Zorro-like messiah and a loveable sidekick to boot- and it was also dubbed in a foreign language. To make a long story short, it fell apart like a house of cards and was declared a massive flop.
There is no formula. Both the movies had the embodiment of what went around as Bollywood at that point of time – Mr. Bachhan. One worked, one did not.
Bollywood had not been able to crack the idea of what should define a superhero back then and if we fast forward ourselves to the modern times, there isn’t much change in the entire affair.
FYI, I am giving a pass to Shaktimaan because it never came on the big-screen and running away from Drona made by Goldie Behl that featured junior Bachhan in it because I really don’t want to mince words about that fiasco. Other movies like “Zokkomon” and the desi-“Superman” rip-off are also given a pass.
