Javed revealed that the role was first offered to Amitabh Bachchan
Mumbai: The third day of the festival saw reunion of "Mr India" with the cast and crew of the film including Sridevi, Anil, Satish Kaushik, producer Boney Kapoor narrating their experiences of the film. Aftab Shivdasani, who acted in the film as a child artist and choreographer Ahmed Khan were present at the reunion. However, director Shekhar Kapur was conspicuous by his absence. "Mr India", a sci-fi superhero film, had Anil, Sridevi and Amrish Puri in the lead roles.
The role of a street-walking violinist who becomes a messiah called Mr India is counted as one of Anil Kapoor's career best performances but it is lesser known that the character was initially offered to megastar Amitabh Bachchan. Scriptwriter Javed Akhtar shared the trivia at the ongoing MAMI Mumbai Film Festival that makers had thought of having Bachchan for the 1987 blockbuster "Mr India".
?"A film was started by Pramod Chakravorty with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead and they took first shot of a tape recorder and his voice was played. A moving shot was taken. That time the idea of invisible man theme came up. But things did not work out with him (Amitabh Bachchan)," Akhtar wrote.
Anil, who wore his famous "Mr India" grey suit and hat on stage, said it was a dream come true for him to star opposite his sister-in-law, Sridevi. "The script was great, I had Javed sahab writing the script and acting opposite the biggest and the best actress of our country, Sridevi, was a dream come true. It was due to all these things that I did the film," the 58-year-old actor said.
Anil's elder brother Boney added every aspect of the movie was "well planned." "Iconic films are made not just by one person it is a team work. We did a lot of promotions for this film. We promoted the film at Sharjah ground. Not just writing, acting, directing... All the aspects of this film were well planned," he said.
All characters of this film became memorable, be it Arun (Anil), Seema (Sridevi), Mogambo (Puri) or Calender (Satish Kaushik). "The success of a film depends on characters of films, actor, who conveys the story, director and other people. People watch a film again and again because of the characters the film," Akhtar said.
Producer Boney Kapoor says he is keen on making a sequel of "Mr India" but filmmaker Shekhar Kapur would not direct it. There has been lot of buzz about "Mr India" and Boney confirmed that they are looking for an exciting script. "We are keen to make 'Mr India 2' but we need an exciting idea, story for it. The day we get the idea we will jump at it. We want to make the sequel," Boney said.
For the sequel Boney says the casting of actors will depend on the script. "He (Shekhar) is busy with Hollywood. He is doing lot of stuff in the West. If you want to make a film of this kind you have to be totally passionate and involved," Boney said.
"That time it was his (Shekhar) only film... everybody at that time was involved with the film. We need a director, who takes this film as a mission... It would be a challenge to make this film," he added. Shekhar is presently occupied with "Paani". Boney said his children actor Arjun Kapoor, Anshula, Jhanvi and Khushi have grown up watching the film.
Talking about the film, Sridevi said, "I followed my director for the scenes and choreographer for doing songs." Meanwhile, gossip mills are abuzz that Sridevi and Boney's daughter Jhanvi is going to make her debut in Bollywood. When asked about it Sridevi choose to stay mum and said, "We are here for 'Mr India'.
(Photo: Viral Bhayani/ Twitter) Watch the video here.
( Source : PTI )
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