Looms clatter back and forth, spewing swathes of cloth in a dingy Indian factory. The grinding of the machines stops and monotonous routine breaks for only two reasons - the interminable electricity cuts that plague the country and Friday movie releases. Friday nights are when workers race out, climbing fences and scrambling over each other to claim a seat when local cinemas open.
Such scenes summarise daily life in Malegaon, a dusty little textile town in the western coastal state of Maharashtra, about 300km from the bright lights of Mumbai. When the workers are hunched over power looms for 12 to 14 hours a day - electricity supply permitting - the cinemas offer an escape from their humdrum reality into fantastical worlds.
Malegaon would be no different from hundreds of other towns in movie-crazy India but for one thing: it has a cottage industry specialising in spoofs of Bollywood blockbusters.
Clothes shop owner Shaikh Nasir started it all 10 years ago when he filmed a spoof of Sholay, a hit 1975 'curry western' about a couple of mercenaries attempting to capture a bandit. Shot on a Handycam, with local lookalikes playing the lead roles, the wacky Malegaon Ka Sholay was a surprise hit in the town and doubled Nasir's investment of 50,000 rupees (HK$7,990 today).
'I had always been interested in films and thought maybe I could make one too,' says Nasir. 'I used to run a video parlour and often edited films [VCR to VCR] that I was screening, so I had some experience. I started off shooting smaller films and wedding videos. Then I thought I would remake Sholay, but decided to make it funny, because people love comedy.'
Nasir's success spurred a spate of spoofs as other movie buffs in town experimented with their own takes on Bollywood epics such as Lagaan, Karan Arjun, Rangeela and Mughal-e-Azam.