A ... superhero? Are you sure?

It's superpersons galore this summer! Apart from 'Superman returns' and 'Xmen-3', there's also the debut of the Indian superhero Krrish to be taken into account.In fact, it's Krrish who has inspired this post. The movie was fine, but there was something about it that bothered me for quite a while. I had a nagging thought after coming out of the theatre that this one was no 'superhero flick'.It might have been called a family drama, or a romantic movie or even an action movie ... though actually it was a mixture of all these, something that we have so aptly christened 'masala' movies; but it certainly was no superhero flick.And the reason for that? Well, to put it plainly, Krrish is a hero, but not a superhero. Do I hear protests of the form "But he's got the superpowers!" , "but he's got the moves!" or "But he's got the costume!" ? Well, of course he has! So what? That still goes only halfway towards making a superhero. IMHO, the three essential components that go into the making of a superhero are : ability, style, and commitment.

Ability is the extra capacity for action on a physical, mental, spiritual or magical level. The superpowers fall into this category. And majority of superheros do have superpowers, except some more interesting ones like Batman, who have honed their mental and physical prowess by hard work and keep increasing their abilities by making use of the latest technological innovations.

Style ... is the trademark of the hero. The appearance and mannerisms that are meant to impress the audience. The masks, costumes(briefs over trousers)and moves fall into this category. Style is also the trait that tells the audience whether the hero is a boy scout or a homicidal maniac.

The last, and this is where our so-called superhero fails, is commitment. For every superhero, there comes a turning point in his life, when he decides that he will devote his life to fighting for truth, justice, protecting innocents, or in some extreme cases, revenge(e.g. the Punisher). This is the moment where he gains that larger than life stature. For Batman, it was when his parents were murdered and he eventually decided to conquer his fear and wage a war on crime.For Spiderman it was when his uncle was murdered because of his lack of civic sense, and he came to realize that 'with great power comes great responsibility'. For Superman it was when he won a football match at highschool, and realized what petty uses had he been putting his great powers to when his adoptive father told him how disappointed he was at this irresponsible attitude. For Krrish, the moment never arrived. Whatever good deed he did during the movie ... well any other (non-super) hero would also have done the same with less panache and probably less success. But even after all his exploits he never realized that the world might need him constantly; that since he is able to do so much good and there's so much injustice in this world, he'd better make it a life-long vocation to help people/fight crime.At the end of it all, he still goes back to his sleepy little village to spend the rest of his days dancing and singing around the trees with his beloved and probably communing with the nature when he gets bored.

A nice boy. A hero. But sadly, not a superhero. Not yet. Oh well, maybe the next sequel ...