India's Superman: Brawn And Brains

(CBS)  This article was written by Scott Baldauf.

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Faster than a speeding horse! Able to leap across Himalayan rivers in a single bound! It's ... Krrish!!

Yes, India has its very own superhero character on the silver screen, playing not only in Delhi and Bombay, but also in the U.S. And its release, side by side with America's own "Superman Returns," is prompting many comparisons that Indians find flattering and appropriate.

While Superman is a space alien who flies around wearing spandex tights and a cape, and rescues people as if it's his night job, Krrish is a mere human in a mask and black leather coat à la "The Matrix," who has extraordinary speed and strength, and rescues people out of sheer decency.

There are other differences. India's "Superman" breaks out into song — several times. And befitting a country that now defines itself as a rising information economy, Krrish's superhero gifts are first noticed in school, including in a grueling IQ test in which the first-grader Krishna explains to a panel of adults the principles of accounting.

"There's something interesting about the vulnerability of Hrithik Roshan," says Vamsee Juluri, a media studies professor at the University of San Francisco, and an expert on Indian cinema. "He has these huge biceps, but Krrish's real power comes from brain, not from brawn. It's a signal that as India emerges as a power of the 21st century, it is going to be traditional and intelligent, and not just do things by force alone."

The smarter superhero motif has obvious appeal for India's urban middle class and wealthy expatriate community, whose educations have allowed them to compete in the global marketplace. And "Krrish" is only the latest in a string of recent films targeting this rising demographic — including international hits such as "Monsoon Wedding" and the Oscar-nominated cricket flick "Lagaan" — instead of the Indian masses, as they did in the past.

This makes the films more understandable to an international audience, to be sure, but it also puts distance in the relationship between India's elites and the vast majority of Indians who live on just a few dollars a day.

"No one wants to know what Indian village life is like, least of all the villagers themselves," says Dipankar Gupta, a professor of social science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Look at the big change. Before, if you could bring in the masses, you made money. Now you get the NRIs [non-resident Indians] and the urban middle class, and the rest can go hang themselves. It's amazing."

Judging from Internet blogs, Krrish has touched a chord among a certain educated class of Indian fans.

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