Secret Superstar
Secret Superstar is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film written and directed by Advait Chandan, and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao under the studio Aamir Khan Productions. The film stars Zaira Wasim, Aamir Khan, Meher Vij and Raj Arjun. The film tells the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who aspires to be a singer, uploading videos on YouTube while disguising her identity with a niqab, and her relationships with her mother, father and mentor. The film deals with social issues including feminism, gender equality and domestic violence. This marks the penultimate film of Wasim's career in Indian cinema.
The film received overall positive reviews from critics. Wasim won the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement. Secret Superstar received ten nominations at the 63rd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Chandan, Best Actress for Wasim, and Best Supporting Actor for Khan. It won three Filmfare Awards, including Best Actress for Wasim, Best Supporting Actress for Vij, and Best Playback Singer for Meghna Mishra. The film serves as the second collaboration between Wasim and Khan following Dangal.
Secret Superstar became one of the most profitable films of all time, grossing worldwide on a limited budget of, with over % return on investment. The film is also the highest-grossing Indian film featuring a female protagonist, the highest-grossing 2017 Hindi film, the seventh highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time and the second highest-grossing Indian film overseas. In China, it is the fifth highest-grossing foreign film of 2018, and the second highest-grossing non-English foreign film ever.
Plot
Insia Malik, a 15-year-old girl, lives with her Muslim family in Baroda: her mother Najma, her brother Guddu, her paternal grandmother, and her abusive father Farookh, who often beats his wife. Insia is very passionate about singing, and her mother supports her, but her father is against her dream of being a singer.She records a song wearing a niqab, so Farookh can't find out her identity, and uploads the video on YouTube under the name of 'Secret Superstar' using the laptop gifted by Najma. She becomes an overnight sensation and grabs the attention of Shakti Kumar, a talented but pretentious music director based in Mumbai. He requests Insia to record a song, but she refuses as she hears a lot of negative things about him. Due to her poor academic grades, Farookh rips out all the strings from her guitar.
The next night, after discovering that Najma sold a valuable necklace to buy Insia's laptop, Farookh thrashes her and tells Insia to throw out the laptop. Insia gets so angry that she snatches the laptop and drops it from the balcony where it falls and shatters on the street. After fleeing from school to record a song for Kumar, she is unable to sing a certain party song. Insia tells this to Kumar who reveals that it is a remix. He tells her about the original version which was launched ten years ago. After singing the original song, her fame grows and she is nominated for the Best Female Singer. Insia persuades Kumar to arrange a meeting with his ex-wife's lawyer. The lawyer prepares divorce papers for Najma to sign, and gives them to Insia.
Insia gives her mother divorce papers to sign, but her mother angrily rejects Insia's demand that her parents divorce. Insia becomes frustrated with her mother, but later reconciles with her, after her grandmother reveals how Najma struggled to keep Insia alive. Farookh is offered a job in Riyadh and he makes it known to Insia that he plans to marry her off to his friend's son. Devastated, Insia gives up her dream of singing and deletes her YouTube channel. Farookh confirms their departure on the last day of Insia's exams.
When they arrive at the airport to depart for their flight, Farookh spots Insia's guitar case. Unwilling to pay the extra fee for the case, he demands that Insia throw the guitar in the nearest trash can. After initially holding back her emotions, Najma finally stands up for herself and boldly protests. She angrily warns Farookh that should he lay hands on her or their kids, he will face severe consequences and even lose his job in Riyadh. Najma then takes out the divorce papers, signs them, and thrusts them into Farookh's hands. Najma says her goodbyes to Farookh's mother and storms out of the airport with her children in tow, as Farookh tries to beg Najma and Insia for forgiveness. Najma borrows a stranger's cell phone and asks Insia to contact Kumar.
All three ultimately end up at the awards ceremony where Insia has been nominated for Best Female Singer. Unfortunately, Insia does not win the award. But the winner, Monali Thakur, graciously dedicates Insia her award believing she rightfully deserved it. Kumar stands up and calls attention to Insia's presence in the audience. While walking onstage, Insia removes her niqab, revealing her true identity. She dedicates her award to her mother and proclaims her the true 'Secret Superstar' since Najma supported and fought for Insia even before her birth. She drops the microphone and runs toward her, and the two embrace to thunderous applause from the audience.
The screen fades to a message dedicating the movie "To Mothers And Motherhood." Later, Shakti Kumar releases a cheesy party song on YouTube dedicated to Insia.
Cast
Cameo Appearances
- Shaan as Himself
- Monali Thakur as Herself
Production
Development
Chandan conceived of the film during the first season of Aamir Khan's television talk show Satyamev Jayate. While doing the research on the episode about domestic violence, Advait Chandan came across Shanno, a single mother and a victim of domestic abuse. After her husband died, Shanno decided to join a driving school and become a driver so as to run her house, a decision that had the full support of her daughter who was willing to work as a maid so that her mother could go and learn driving. Shanno was successful in becoming a driver and through that she managed to support her house. This story redefined the word hero for Advait Chandan who says, "That is when I realised that my idea of a hero was really narrow. Shanno's daughter is the real hero here. The definition of a hero for me and what I was writing about, it totally changed at that moment."During the third season of Satyamev Jayate, the first episode narrated the success story of ten year old Shubham Jaglan, son of a milkman and the youngest golf champion of India. Shubham revealed that he learned 60 per cent of Golf through YouTube videos. The story of Shubham further helped Advait Chandan in the development of his film Secret Superstar. Advait says that, "I feel like the middle class is really getting affected by the internet. I never went to film school, but I can sit here and watch a lesson on Stanley Kubrick's camera movements, for example. The internet is empowering the middle class in a way that really needed to be captured on film. That was the umbrella idea—a mother and daughter in middle-class, small-town India getting empowered by this amazing tool that is giving platform to talent."
In July 2015 it was reported that Aamir Khan shall be collaborating with his manager Advait Chandan and music composer A. R. Rahman for a film that was initially titled Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai. In late April 2016, the title of the film was said to be Secret Superstar. A.R. Rahman later opted out of the film, citing schedule conflicts. He was replaced by Amit Trivedi.
Casting and filming
Aamir Khan had cast Zaira Wasim, when she was aged 14, in Dangal. Shortly afterwards, Advait told Khan that he was looking for a girl of a similar age for the lead role of his film Secret Superstar, and Khan suggested Wasim. After Advait tested her, he was impressed and cast her in the lead role.The principal photography of the film commenced on 1 September 2016. The film is shot in Vadodara and Mumbai.
The film was produced with a limited budget. Most sources state the production budget is. Rob Cain gives the film's total production and marketing budget as. Box Office India gives its budget as, but it is not known if this includes marketing costs.
Release
India
Secret Superstar was originally set to release on 4 August 2017, but it was later postponed to 19 October 2017. The film released in 1,100 theatres with 1,800 screens in India, and opened on 2,840 screens worldwide. The film made its Indian television debut on Zee Cinema, airing on 2425 February 2018 in India.Overseas
The film released in Taiwan on 24 November 2017, on 73 screens, more than Dangal. It was also announced that Secret Superstar would release in Russia, on 50 screens. The film was released in Russia on 8 February 2018. The same month, it was announced that there are plans to release the film in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The film had a theatrical release in the Philippines on 31 March 2018. In Japan, the film released on 9 August 2019.China
announced in late October 2017 that he would be planning to release Secret Superstar in China over the next one or two months. The film released in China on 19 January 2018. It is the first Indian film to have a revenue-sharing deal, which is usually reserved for big Hollywood films. Khan's share of Chinese box office revenue will be 25%, compared to his 12.5% share for Dangal. Secret Superstar was released on 11,000 screens in China.Secret Superstars China premiere was in Beijing on 16 January 2018, and was attended by director Advait Chandan, actress Zaira Wasim, and singer Meghna Mishra. Khan could not attend, but planned to visit China shortly after the film's release. The premiere was also attended by Chinese filmmakers such as Peter Chan, Tsai Yueh Hsun, Daming Chen, and Zhang Jiajia, and Chinese actors such as the Luu Brothers. The film's reception at the premiere was positive, which includes Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan calling it his second-favourite Indian film after 3 Idiots, and writer-director Zhang Jiajia being impressed with the film's theme of empowering women to pursue their dreams. Upon release, the film was promoted with a manhua comic featuring Aamir Khan with the same title as the film.
Khan began his tour of China on 22 January 2018, and was greeted by film star Deng Chao upon arrival. He visited Shanghai, where he was welcomed by large crowds of fans. He then visited Beijing, where he attended the "Red Carpet for Aamir Khan and His Friends" event with Chandan and Wasim, then the Chinese-Indian Film Forum, and the film's press conference. The Chinese-Indian Film Forum, held by CCTV, was attended by a number of Chinese directors, stars, and film critics, including Chinese filmmaker Yu Baimei and Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Tong, as well as former Olympic champion Liu Guoliang with whom Khan played a competitive ping pong match. Khan was also greeted by actor-singer Huang Bo, as well as other film stars including Liu Yifei and Jackie Chan in video messages.