‘The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman’ Review: Jackie Shroff and Mihir Godbole Buoy This Earnest Boyhood Film About Budding Imagination

Children’s movies are a rarity in India. That’s the truth of the matter. Of course, there are films masquerading as movies about children, but end up dealing more with adult anxieties than anything else. To that end, Manish Saini’s “The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman,” makes a sincere attempt to stay true to the genre. You meet Dipu (Mihir Godbole) who wants to make friends in his new school. The building with its brightly painted walls, huge compound and blackboards, is the quintessential prestigious school in a small town. Manish Saini succeeds in creating a world where innocence, mischief and magic realism seem convincing for the greater part. Dipu shares a warm bond with his paternal grandfather, Dada (Jackie Shroff) and his partner-in-crime is his bestie, Laddu (Shivanssh Chourghe). 

Dipu finds the perfect way to make friends in school by regaling them with stories of how his grandfather is a superhero. His Dada, a total sport, plays along even getting a superhero outfit stitched from the local tailor. Well, unknown to the family, he is indeed a man who possesses superpowers that come alive when aliens attack their village.  

The film has a message about environmental conservation but avoids the preachy route. It passes on the message in a fast-paced, action-packed and emotional narrative without compromising the elements of a children's film. Jackie Shroff, ditches his trademark swagger moulding himself into a small-town grandpa whose hobby is gardening. The child actors — Mihir Godbole, Shivanssh Chourghe, Jihan Jeetendra Hodar, Asmi Deo and co — hold the film together along with the veteran Hindi film star. Mihir is convincing as Dipu whose imagination about superheroes drives the plot. Shivanssh Chourghe has excellent timing and his dialogue delivery is flawless. In fact, he can put a few grown-up actors to shame. Bhagyashree has a small role as Muski, Dada's alien sweetheart, but that is about it. Prateik Smita Patil makes his entry in the climax as the menacing alien villain. He does not have a character arc in the film and only appears for the final showdown. 

Within its scale and budget, “The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman” does decently on the technical front. A bit of animation is used in the first half, which helps in the story-telling. The VFX is adequate and used only in the climax. "The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman," benefits from Swathy Deepak's cinematography. The scenes use a lot of natural light, which not only makes the ambience stand out but also provides relief from the darker tones one is used to seeing in recent films. Art director Sachin Dabhade creates a spacious family home blessed with a garden that seems to grow in a manner as unruly as the protagonists' imagination. 

Deepa Bhatia who edited films like "Stanley Ka Dabba," (2011) and the blockbuster, "Taare Zameen Par," keeps the run-time to less than two hours, which is one of the movie's biggest strengths. The dialogues between the kids range from innocent banter to lines that show their deep awareness of the world around them. So, this is a film that does not dumb down kids under the pretext of being an imaginative children's movie.

Manish Saini does justice to his idea of making a children's film with a theme of consciousness towards Mother Earth. The use of fantastical superhero elements attempts to make the movie more engaging for children who seem obsessed with superpowers. "The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman," is definitely not a spectacle film but surely an honest one celebrating the innocence, imagination and simplicity that makes a child a child.