Monday, Jun 19, 2006
Bollywood Superhero Krrish Goes Head-to-Head With Superman
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The Bollywood movie industry is banking on a masked crime-fighter to take on Superman in the first box office clash in India between rival superheroes.
 Hrithik Roshan
© AFP/File Sebastian D'Souza"Krrish," which breaks Indian movie industry norms with lavish special effects and dramatic stunts, will be released on Friday June 23, a week before Hollywood's "Superman Returns" debuts here.
The Indian industry is best-known for making love stories, comedies and tragedies but has never before attempted to make a film about a superhero, a formula that has proved popular in western cinema.
"Krrish is an attempt to lay the foundation of the superhero concept in Bollywood," the star of the film, Hrithik Roshan, told AFP.
"The concept of the superhero so far has been alien to Bollywood and we hope to achieve that with this film."
The film was produced with a large budget by Bollywood standards of 450 million rupees (10 million dollars), and is the sequel to the 2003 hit "Koi Mil Gaya" (I've Found Someone) -- which was loosely based on US smash "E.T."
Roshan, who also starred in the first film, is Krrish -- the inheritor of supernatural powers from an alien visitor which allows him to fight crime in Singapore, where the film was partially shot.
Rakesh Roshan, the producer-director and father of the star, denied the film was a copy of Superman but said he wanted to take on Hollywood.
"I feel these are two different films and my film is not about the Superman character. As there is Batman, Spiderman and Superman -- in the same way I have created a superhero character and that is Krrish."
He added: "I want to prove to the world that Bollywood is no less than Hollywood."
The movie, which also stars former Miss World Priyanka Chopra, is Hrithik Roshan's first after a gap of two years. His last film "Lakshya" (Aim in Life) flopped in 2004.
"Bollywood audiences have not seen such a film and much excitement has built up for Krrish and it is expected to get a great opening at the box office," trade analyst Taran Adarsh said.
The Indian film industry is the largest by volume in the world, producing more than 1,000 movies in 2005 but accounting for only one percent of global film revenues.
Bollywood, the term for the Mumbai-based heart of the industry, generates about 40 percent of Indian film revenues.
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