Veteran actor Jackie Shroff, in a recent interview, said The Great Grand Superhero – Aliens Ka Aagman is a genre that remains close to his heart as it fills a gap in mainstream cinema.
Directed by Manish Saini, the film hit theatres on Friday.
“Children’s films are hardly made today and if there are films that are about them, their dreams, innocence then I love to explore that. We don’t get to see all of that in movies otherwise. I do all kinds of films, but this genre is close to my heart because there’s a child in all of us,” Shroff told PTI.
Shroff, who has previously featured in children’s films such as Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors and Bhoot Unkle, said he grew up hearing stories like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Arabian Nights, but feels Indian children should be more connected to their cultural roots.
“As a child, instead of learning Atharvaveda, Ayurveda, Rigveda, we were learning ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill,’ ‘Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses,’ and ‘Aladdin.’ We are not learning about what is more Indian; I thought these were things we missed in childhood. Today, their imagination is shaped by the internet and AI.”
In The Great Grand Superhero, Shroff plays a grandfather who tells his grandson a story in which he is a superhero, setting off a series of humorous events and an encounter with aliens.
Having previously played a superhero in the 1985 film Shiva Ka Insaaf, Shroff said he feels “lucky” to once again take on a superhero role, this time as a grandfather.
The 68-year-old actor also suggested the idea of a homegrown superhero universe, envisioning a crossover of his son Tiger Shroff’s A Flying Jatt, Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One and Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish, along the lines of Hollywood’s Avengers franchise.
“When I did Shiva Ka Insaaf, I had to hang on at a certain height, jump, and do everything. Today, technology definitely is a big help now. Those days, it was tougher; now it’s easier. However, I did whatever I could,” he said.
“But wearing a superhero costume is still not easy. For seven to eight hours you can’t go to the restroom, so these issues exist. So, you’ve to go through the grind,” Shroff added.
Directed by Manish Saini, the film features an ensemble cast including Prateik Smita Patil, Bhagyashree Dasani, Sharat Saxena, Mihir Godbole, Durgesh Kumar, Saharsh Shukla, Shivansh Chorge, and Kumar Saurabh.
On the work front, Shroff is set to appear in the sequel to Sanjay Dutt’s 1993 film Khal Nayak.