On the pressure of being a superhero…

I read this interesting article by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox in the Harvard Business Review. Titled “In praise of extreme moderation”, it speaks of the trend of workaholism being a badge of honor, and extremism is becoming the norm not only in our professional lives but increasingly in our personal lives as well. 

People take up sports and end up trying to become triathletes, she says. What if we gave our 80%, instead of trying to throw 110% at everything we do? Extreme diets, extreme fitness, extreme everything. 

The irony is that those who are paid the most work the hardest, reversing the age-old trend of the worker class slogging it out while the rich rested. One does not have to be the best at every single thing – how about bringing in a bit of moderation, rather than pushing ourselves to the limits?

Quite intriguing I must say. Come to think of it, most of it sounds true. Take gymming for instance. Gone are the days when you went to the gym to step onto the treadmill and have a slightly aggravated walk, and followed it up with an orange juice. 

No sir. Nowadays you have to attend a mix of classes, cardio, CrossFit and biking and yoga all thrown into a large mixer, with protein shakes and amino acids and served sweating hot and ice cold. Even the gym clothes you wear nowadays speak of extreme athletics, rather than the ill-fitting cotton track pants of yore. 

Superheroes, we are all trying to become. And it does not end well. 

Speaking of superheroes, the best I’d seen in the genre in recent times was Minnal Murali. 

Trust Malayalam cinema to throw a well-aimed googly at the absent-minded legs of Bollywood. While Mumbai throw all it had at the superhero genre, all they could come up with was an avoidable RaOne and a man in a ghaghara (Krrisshhh). There was one attempt that stood out (Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota) but the rest was tripe. Considering the budget, the (aging) superstars and the reach, very disappointing fare. 

Minnal Murali, on the other hand, is what a Made in India superhero film should be. It has emotion, laughter, great music, and is set in a village where the superhero and the villain wear Paragon chappals and dhotis. Yet, the characterization is such that you don’t hate the villain and you love the hero anyway. Very well developed, the stories run in parallel until they meet in the third act. And just the right amount of special effects. Also including a cat suspended in air in slow motion:))

Thoroughly enjoyable. Never thought I would love a superhero movie so much. It plays on Netflix. With subtitles. So go, watch it!