Boney Kapoor on 'Mr India' sequel: It would be my ode to Sridevi because she was the sole selling factor of the film

32 years ago, Bollywood got an invisible superhero and it just changed the phase of Indian cinema. Yes, we are talking about Mr India which released on May 29, 1987. The film had several iconic characters played a bunch of talented actors namely Anil Kapoor as Arun as well as the titular role, Sridevi as Seema aka Miss Hawa Hawaii and one of the best villains ever Mogambo played by legendary Amrish Puri. The sci-fi was helmed by Shekhar Kapur and produced by Boney Kapoor.

During a recent interaction with HT Cafe, Boney spoke at length about the iconic film by getting nostalgic. He stated, "The most special memory is, of course, meeting my wife Sridevi for the first time for the film and the first day of shooting with her." Boney further spoke about working with the top actor of the 80s Sridevi, "In those days, Sri used to charge ₹8.5 lakh for a film, and her mother would give 30-35 days for the entire film. When I went to sign Sri up for it, she asked for ₹10 lakh thinking after bargaining I will get it down to ₹8.5 lakh. But, I took a pause and said I will pay ₹11 lakh. They were shocked and didn’t know what had happened. They also said that her staff must stay close to Sri’s hotel. I said I’d make them stay in the same hotel. My only condition was that I needed 60-65 days, but we ended up shooting for 125 days because she was passionate about the project and knew it needed that kind of time."

On being quizzed about a sequel to Mr India, Boney replied, "We tried to think of a sequel but nothing worked out so we are now rebooting it. We will make it contemporary. It’d be my ode to Sri and to Veeru (who died recently) and Amrish Puri and everyone who contributed to the film."

He concluded by saying, "But the most to Sri, because she was the sole selling factor of the film. Of course, Anil will be a part of the film. In fact, I’d want most people from the original to be a part of this. It’d mean a lot to me if they contributed to the film. Whenever we meet, we talk about Mr India with the same passion, so I am sure they would be happy to be a part of the film."