Malegaon Times looks at the idea of performance in the working-class, power-loom town of Malegaon (Maharashtra, Western India). Malegaon thrives on power-looms, cloth and cinema, all inextricably linked to each other. The film moves between these worlds with Asif Albela - a stage performer, a mimic and a film actor whose specialty lies in comedy. He is known for his ability to carve out characters from the everyday fabric of his town, and present them through his lens of comedy- the preferred way in which the town likes to see its realities revealed.
Ruchika Negi and Amit Mahanti are a part of Frame Works, an independent research and media collective based in New Delhi. Some of their films include No One Has Come Alone, ML05 B 6055 and Malegaon Times. Their other works include Zariyein IIII, a photographybased community art project with communities in Delhi, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand; Restless, a text/image book around the impact of dams on Himalayan ecology in Sikkim; Disconnect, a text / image installation around the idea of translocation; Audio Exchange, a community media exchange project in Meghalaya, and When Hunger Feels Good, a video + structural installation around hunger and food aid.