Superman (1980) and Superman (1987)

Having covered the Indian "Return of Superman," I tracked down two different "Superman" films from India, neither of which seems related to it.


1987 Indian Superman

This is pretty much a remake of the 1978 American Superman film done with zero budget, in Hindi, so you can sort of follow it even though it's not subtitled. The special effects are mostly stolen and the new ones are ludicrous - such as making him look like he's flying by moving the camera and rear-projecting scenery of the film being ripped off. It's really long, even by Bollywood standards, and not worth sitting through for the silly bits. There's a distaff motorcycle karate gang. There's breakdancing (after all, it is 1987). There's a comedy relief character. There's songs, but not full-on Bollywoodized.




1980 Indian Superman

This one's better, or at least stranger, and in Telugu (I think). It's a revenge film with musical numbers. There's some elephants, a child assassin, some really big guys with axes and it moves along briskly, if somewhat incoherently, as I didn't have subtitles. It's cheap, even by Indian rip-off standards.