In the early 2000s, there was a whisper in the air in India – Why are there no Indian superhero movies? And it was a legitimate demand from the people who are tired of seeing America’s Christopher Reeve’s Superman, George Clooney and Michael Keaton’s Batman and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man jumping and flying around Indian big screens. It really felt like it’s time for a ‘desi’ guy to emerge with superheroic power on the big screen. Though, we had a little bit of success on the small screen in late ’90s with Shaktiman and Captain Vyom but still they were small screen avatars.
Now, cut to 2003, we just received India’s very first major Sci-Fi blockbuster, courtesy the visionary Rakesh Roshan and his chiseled Greek-God resembled son, Hrithik Roshan. India was overwhelmingly happy in welcoming Rohit & Gang along with Jadoo, the alien. This ‘partly E.T.’ inspired alien became every Indian’s favorite and it felt like this film could really turn into a franchise.
Now, we directly go to 2006, one of the most happening and biggest years of Bollywood in terms of blockbusters. This is a year when massive films such as Rang De Basanti, Dhoom 2, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Don, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Fanaa, Phir Hera Pheri and Gangster came out. But suddenly, in the line of such fascinating movies, nobody expected that around the middle of the year, Hrithik Roshan would emerge and start flying around the Himalayan mountains and the city of Singapore as a black-caped superhero with vengeance in his eyes. It was like the wildest Indian dream coming true seeing a made-in-Mumbai man do extremely crisp Kung Fu and other death and gravity-defying stunts. Yes, this is how ‘Krrish‘ struck to every Indian’s eyes.
Continuing with the previous story of Rohit Mehra and his acquisition of superpowers from Jadoo in Koi… Mil Gaya, in Krrish, it’s revealed that Rohit’s son Krishna who looks exactly like his father got those same powers from his father. Years later after a number of events, Krishna learns that his long-declared dead father is not actually dead but in a paralysed state, thanks to a mad scientist who plans to create a super-computer to see the future to Destroy humanity. Now, to save his father and humanity and to keep his identity a secret, Krishna takes up the name Krrish and starts covering himself in an iconic black mask and black long coat resembling Batman.
Krrish was a trendsetter in Indian cinema, with visual effects on par with those from Hollywood and certainly uplifted and placed Hrithik Roshan as one of the biggest stars of the country. The effects team of Krrish was aided by Hollywood’s Marc Kolbe and Craig Mumma, and the stunts were choreographed by Chinese martial arts film expert Tony Ching, which was, believe me, a massive thing in those times. After 7 years in 2013, we saw the ‘even bigger’ Krrish 3 which was also a blockbuster earning almost 400 crores. By that time, Krrish has become a cult classic character in Indian films.
Now, after 15 years, the film which made us awestruck in 2006 feels like a technological and a nostalgic Marvel of Indian cinema and it’s indeed one of daring leap in terms of concept and characterization in Bollywood. Indian people learnt that they have someone now who can go toe-to-toe with Hollywood biggies like Superman, Spider-Man or Batman. Today to celebrate 15 years of Krrish, fans started sharing the snaps in memory of their favorite Indian superhero films.
Check them here and start being nostalgic. By the way, Krrish is streaming on SonyLIV and you can you it anytime now: