Pune: Inspired by the larger than life cinematic hero shaped by Amitabh Bachchan‘s iconic screen persona, Hero examines how pop culture defines courage, masculinity and morality, blending nostalgia with satire to question what heroism really means today.Presented by theater troupe Ranga Pune, the bilingual Hindi and Marathi play will be staged at Bharat Natya Mandir on Feb 20, celebrating a decade since its first performance. What began as a college competition entry has since evolved into a cult favourite sustained by fandom and reflection.“We came up with this play when we had to enter a college-level drama competition because all of us were Amitabh Bachchan’s fans and we wanted to do something with all this fan-based enthusiasm. That was 10 years ago. Over the years, the script has been fine-tuned of course,” director Abhishek Dave said.He said the troupe’s relationship with Bachchan goes beyond nostalgia, shaped instead by a shared cultural memory formed through cinema. “I am 40 years old, the rest of the cast and crew, about 23 of them, are in their early 30s. All of us have grown up watching his movies and even him as a person has had a great influence on us as actors and entertainers. We claim him as one of our own.”The familiarity, he said, mirrors a uniquely Indian relationship with the superstar. “We have never met him, but we talk about him like he is a friend. And it’s not just us. I think it is a thing with fans of Bachchan, who discuss him with such heartwarming familiarity,” Dave said.At its core, Hero tells a deceptively simple story. “It is about how a boy tries to propose to a girl who is a big Bachchan fan. So he decides to style himself, talk like Bachchan and do the things Bachchan did as a hero in the movies of the 80s and 90s,” Dave said, referencing the era when Bachchan earned the title of Bollywood’s “angry young man”.The production draws heavily from cinematic memory. “Most of the dialogues in the play are based on his iconic lines in the films but set in a different context, which makes it a satire of sorts,” the director said. The protagonist delivers iconic lines from films such as Zanjeer and Deewar, recreating the swagger audiences instantly find resonance with.Yet the play deliberately questions that outdated heroism. “None of us condone toxic masculinity. Ideas have changed in the last 45 years as they should. Even in the play written and performed 10 years ago, the girl leaves the guy because of the toxicity. She will not put up with it. A hero is someone who respects all people,” Dave said.A decade later, Hero remains a homage and critique, using Bachchan’s mythic image not to glorify the past, but to ask whether modern audiences are finally ready to redefine what makes a hero.
