Krrish 3 (2013) is the sequel to Krrish, which is the sequel to Koi . . . Mil Gaya. It's an odd way to build a superhero franchise, because Koi . . . Mil Gaya is not a superhero movie, it's a Bollywood spin on ET mixed with Flowers For Algernon; friendly alien Jadoo gives bullied and developmentally disabled Rohit Mehra (Hrithik Roshan) advanced physical and mental powers, enabling him to save the day, get the girl (Preity Zinta), and earn his happy ending. Then, between movies, Rohit is kidnapped by Bollywood Lex Luthor Siddhant Arya (Naseeruddin Shah), and his wife dies of grief. Fortunately, in the next movie Rohit's son Krishna (also Hrithik Roshan) becomes the superhero Krrish (which is still one of the lazier superhero names since Blackagar Boltagon started calling himself Black Bolt), rescues Rohit, and defeats Doctor Arya's future-predicting supercomputer.
Now, Rohit is a respected scientist working for the Indian Research Institute, and Krishna is married to plucky reporter Priya (Priyanka Chopra). Krishna can't manage to hold a job, because he's always rushing off to save the day as Krrish. However, Priya is expecting their first child, and the little family is absurdly happy and frankly adorable.
Meanwhile, quadriplegic and telekinetic scientist Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) has created a team of mutants enhanced with animal DNA. There are a lot of them, including Ant Man, Rhino Man, and Scorpion Woman, but the important ones are Striker (Gowhar Khan), a dangerous brawler with a prehensile tongue, and Kaya (Kangana Renaut), whose chameleon DNA gives her the power to be Msytique.
But mutant making is only one of Kaal's interests. He also creates viruses, releases them on unsuspecting cities, and then, as the head of Kaal Pharmaceuticals, he sells the cure for an absurd amount of money. (And I have to say, this particular plotline hits differently in 2021 than it did in 2013.)
During the first part of the movie, the forces of good and evil don't really interact. Kaal stays in his evil lair, making mutants, unleashing plagues, and gnawing on the scenery. Rohit tinkers unsuccessfully with a device to replicate Jadoo's power to channel sunlight into lifegiving energy (and what are the odds of something like that paying off before the end of the movie?), and Krishna divides his time between hanging out with his family and saving people from various disasters, along the way inspiring a movement by telling a boy he's rescued that "Anyone who takes away tears and spreads happiness is Krrish." It's a lot like the Shatktimaan Friends Club, only with more foreshadowing.
And then Kaal unleashes his latest virus on Mumbai. Krrish does what he can, but this is a problem that he can't solve, even with superpowers. But Rohit can; he notices that Krrish is seemingly immune to the virus, so he uses Krishna's blood to create a cure rather than wait for Kaal Pharmaceuticals. Kaal is both furious and confused; both the virus and the cure are based on his own DNA, so how could anyone else make a cure? He decides that it is, finally, time to unleash the mutants.
This is not the most original movie ever made. Kaal's mutants are blatantly lifted from the X-Men movies, and while Kaal is no Magneto, he does seem to use his telekinesis to movie metal objects almost exclusively. Meanwhile, Krrish is faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, though he combines the Superman power set with Peter Parker's career aptitude, and during one fight scene he duplicates Shaktimaan's trademark spin.
Original or not, though, Krrish 3 is a remarkably efficient distillation of my favorite superhero tropes. Yes, there are amazing action scenes, but Krrish doesn't just fight bad guys and brood on rooftops. He save people. He inspires people. (I am an absolute sucker for a good "I am Spartacus"/ordinary citizens standing up to the supervillain scene, and this movie has a great one.) And he does it without ever losing sight of the people who love him. This is "Stuff That I Love About Superheroes: The Motion Picture."
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