Mr. India director Shekhar Kapur on Anil Kapoor-starrer sequel: 'Would have made it if...'

Director Shekar Kapur recently talked about his desire to make the sequel of his cult classic film Mr. India starring Anil Kapoor, Amrish Puri and Sridevi. Released in 1987, the film revolved around Anil Kapoor's character Arun, living with a bunch of orphaned kids struggling to make ends meet to feed the kids. He crosses paths with antagonist Mogambo--who later goes on to become one of the most iconic villains of Bollywood--after one of the orphaned kids dies. Arun later uses his father's cloaking device that earns him the name of Mr. India and fights back against the villain. 

The film was dubbed a breakthrough for the entire team and cast as it was called a milestone in Indian cinema which triggered more films in the superhero genre in Bollywood. Moreover, the films' evergreen song like Hawa Hawaii featuring Sridevi and dialogues such as 'Mogambo khush hua' and 'Hail Mogambo!' became hugely popular and continue to be referred to in modern pop culture. More than three decades after its release, director Kapur opened up about wanting to make a sequel for the film but facing one setback. 

Shekhar Kapur on Mr. India 2

In an interview with PTI, the 76-year-old director got candid about churning out IP driven content and how he does not wish to make remake films. Subsequently, he mentioned his classic film Mr. India and revealed that he would have made a sequel of the film by now if he had the rights to it. Kapur stated, ''Problem is I’m always looking for adventure. ‘Jo kahani bana li use dobara kyun banayein?’ (Why make a story that's been already made?) What drives me is the adventure of the unknown and an IP becomes known, then you have an addiction.''

''And it has to be somewhere close, otherwise people say how is it the same… If I had the rights to ‘Mr India’, I would have done a ‘Mr India 2’ by now. But I don’t,'' he added during the EXPO2020 Dubai. 

Bankrolled by Boney Kapoor and Surinder Kapoor, the film was written by Salim–Javed. Notably, Mr. India 2 was announced in the year 2011 following  Zee Studios' announcement in 2020 of  Ali Abbas Zafar being roped in to helm a trilogy Mr India. However, the status of the project is not disclosed. 

(With inputs from PTI)

Image: Instagram/@shekharkapur/oldbollywoodquotes