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| A poster of Puneet Issar's Indian Superman (The Surfing Violinist review and full movie below) |
The decades-old Indian version of Superman was uploaded on YouTube in 2012 and has been viewed nearly 800,000 times.
To give a perspective, let us note that the most popular upload of Sholay has clocked 520,000 views.
The Indian Superman, a movie you may not have heard about till recently, was being quietly enjoyed by thousands of video viewers, who were lucky to have stumbled upon it.
A recent review of the movie by The Surfing Violinist, brings it to the limelight and opens up for a wider audience.
In a short sentence, it is so awful, it is a must watch.
The two-hour long movie was made in 1987, inspired by Christopher Reeve's Superman franchise.
It was produced and directed by B Gupta. Dharmenda played the biological father of Superman, while Ashok Kumar brought up the baby on Planet Earth, Puneet Issar plays Superman and the movie finished off his career even before it started.
The Indian movie lifts liberally from the original. So, when you see Puneet Issar flying, it is usually Christopher Reeve defying gravity. In a few scenes, Puneet Issar is also shown flying - but on closer look, it is an arms-stretched doll swirling around a rapidly panning camera.
B Gupta specialised in C-grade films. So, there is a mandatory bra-hooking scene and other footage befitting the stature of the main Superman opponents, Shakti Kapoor and Bob Christo.
Before you click on the hilarious full movie below, do watch The Surfing Violonist's six-minute review of the Indian Superman - he manages to capture the soul of it.