Mr. India is a 1987 Indian Hindi-language science fiction superhero film directed by Shekhar Kapur and produced jointly by Boney Kapoor and Surinder Kapoor under the Narsimha Enterprises banner. The story and screenplay was written by the duo Salim–Javed in what was their last collaboration before their split. Starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri, the film tells the story of Arun Verma (Kapoor), a humble violinist and philanthropist. He receives a cloaking device that provides invisibility. While renting out his house to pay his debts, he meets a journalist Seema Sahni (Sridevi) and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, criminal Mogambo (Puri) has plans to conquer India.
After watching his previous directorial venture Masoom, a 1983 family drama about children, Boney Kapoor approached Kapur to make another film with a similar theme. Principal photography was handled by Baba Azmi, and took place in Srinagar, Mumbai, and other locations in India, starting in July 1985, and finished after 350 days. Laxmikant–Pyarelal composed the soundtrack, while Akhtar wrote the lyrics. After filming ended, Waman Bhonsle and Gurudutt Shirali jointly edited it. Veteran cameraman Peter Pereira was responsible for the special effects in the movie. Arun Patil handled mechanical components of these effects. In the pre-digital era, these effects were achieved using masking techniques as well as traditional and in-camera tricks.
Mr. India was released on 29 May 1987. It emerged as a commercial success and became the second highest-grossing film of the year at the Indian box office behind Hukumat, where it earned against a budget; it was also an overseas hit in China. It received widespread acclaim from contemporary and modern critics, with most of them appreciating the performances of Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. In 2013, Sridevi was awarded the Special Award at the 58th Filmfare Awards.
Mr. India was a breakthrough for its director and cast members and became a milestone in Hindi cinema for its rarely filmed superhero genre, which was followed by several Indian films in later years. It was remade in Tamil as En Rathathin Rathame (1989) and Kannada as Jai Karnataka (1989). A 3D sequel, titled Mr. India 2, was announced in 2011 but has not yet entered production.
Plot
Mogambo is a criminal with a private army and a goal to conquer India. From his hidden island, he monitors all the crimes perpetrated by his henchmen to destabilise India. He has complete loyalty of his army who acknowledge him with the phrase "Hail Mogambo!". Mogambo, is also seen as ill tempered and his entire staff is mostly relieved when he says "Mogambo khush hua" (Hindi for "Mogambo is happy").
Mogambo's ultimate aim is to get a device that would turn people invisible, this, he thinks, will help him conquer India and the rest of the world more easily. Meanwhile Arun Verma(the protagonist) is a street violinist and philanthropist who rents an old house that he calls a "hostel" to take care of orphaned children with the help of his cook named "Calendar". Arun is seldom able to make ends meet and is in deep debt, so he decides to rent out a room on the first floor. Seema Soni, his first tenant, is a local journalist who eventually becomes friends with everyone.
One day Arun meets a family friend, Professor Sinha and learns that Arun's late father, a renowned scientist, had created a cloaking device that would make its user invisible. It is also revealed in a flashback that Mogambo was responsible for Arun's father's death. After, Daga and Teja, two of Mogambo’s henchmen, evict Arun, Seema, and the children from the hostel in order to use it as a smuggling center. Later, Sinha is identified by Mogambo's henchmen and they try to abduct him to get the device but Sinha flees.
Arun then receives a letter from Sinha that explains where the device is hidden. With the directions in the letter, and accompanied by his ward, Arun enters his father's old laboratory, where he finds the device. He then wears the device and when he activates it, he becomes invisible. It is revealed that the invisibility does not work on the color Red and the person can be seen under red light or through red glass. Arun decides to use the invisibility to fight crime with another identity and calls himself "Mr. India". He starts by fighting corrupt businesses in his neighbourhood, which happen to be Mogambo's.
Meanwhile, Seema being a crime reporter for a local news daily assumes the identity of a Hawaiian dancer "Hawa Hawaii" and infiltrates a lavish party hosted by Daga, one of Mogambo's goons. But she is identified and caught by Daga. She is, however rescued by Mr. India. Seema subsequently falls in love with Mr. India. On another occasion, Arun uses the device to trick one of Mogambo's henchmen to foil his criminal plan of stealing a gold idol of the Hindu god Hanuman from a temple. On hearing about the invisible Mr. India, Mogambo is pleased that he finally has a way to get to the invisibility device. He, then orders bombs to be placed around the country so that Mr. India can be baited to help and then be caught.
Tina, a child who stays at Arun's hostel is killed by one such bomb disguised as a toy. Mogambo, understands that though Mr. India tries to protect the entire country he is particularly fond of the kids in Arun's hostel. Hence, Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the other children at the hostel are abducted by Mogambo and brought to his secret hideout on the remote island. Arun admits to being Mr. India when Mogambo threatens to kill two of the children; but because Arun has lost the device by accidentally dropping it somewhere during the capture, he cannot become invisible to prove himself. Mogambo gives them time to correctly identify Mr. India and sends them into a cell.
They manage to escape after stealing the keys from a guard. Meanwhile, Mogambo activates four intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are poised to destroy all of India. Arun confronts him, the two fight, and Arun gains an upper hand. But as he is about to stop the missiles, Mogambo warns that the missiles have been fuelled and if he stops them now they will fail to launch and blow the island up . Nevertheless, Arun deactivates the launch, and the missiles detonate on the launch pad. Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the children escape; Mogambo's fortress is destroyed, and Mogambo dies. It is later shown in an epilogue that Mr. India is being felicitated and all the children, Arun and Seema are at the ceremony.
Cast
Anil Kapoor as Arun Verma/Mr. India Sridevi as Seema Soni Amrish Puri as Mogambo Ashok Kumar as Prof. Sinha Annu Kapoor as Mr. Gaitonde, Seema's newspaper editor Ramesh Deo as a police inspector Ajit Vachani as Teja Bob Christo as Mr. Wolcott Harish Patel as Roopchand Anjan Srivastav as Baburam Satish Kaushik as Calendar Ahmed Khan as an orphan kid Aftab Shivdasani as Orphan Yunus Parvez as Maniklal Sharat Saxena as Daga Gurbachan Singh as Captain Zorro
Production Development After watching Shekhar Kapur's family film Masoom (1983), producer Boney Kapoor approached him to make another film with themes related to children; Kapur immediately accepted the offer and received a salary. Kapur had been a fan of comic books and always wanted to make a superhero film. He had written several comic books that received international acclaim: Devi, Snakewoman, The Warlord, The Omega Crystal, and Mantra. Salim–Javed, a duo consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, was signed to write the story and screenplay for . Several publications claimed they took inspiration from the science fiction films Mr. X (1957) and Mr. X In Bombay (1964), but Kapur denied these reports saying that he never found copies of the films. Kapur wrote the dialogue in Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu. Boney Kapoor co-produced the film alongside his father, Surinder Kapoor, under the Narsimha Enterprises banner.
Casting Anil Kapoor and Sridevi were cast as the main protagonists, Amrish Puri as the principal antagonist. Anil Kapoor plays Arun, a poor street violinist and philanthropist who rents a large, old house to help ten orphans. Salim–Javed made the role specifically for Rajesh Khanna, but later they asked Amitabh Bachchan to play it when they found Khanna did not suit the role. Bachchan, however, felt that the concept of an invisible man would overshadow his performance, saying, "The real hero of the film is an invisible character. So why do you need me?". The duo took this as an "insult", and at a Holi festival held a few days later, Akhtar told him that neither he nor Khan would work with him again. In fact, Khan never said that and blamed Akhtar for this misunderstanding. This resulted in their split, making Mr. India their final collaboration. In an interview with Rediff.com, Anil Kapoor admitted he added his "own style" to the role so the audience would not realize it "was going to be done" by Bachchan.
Sridevi was given the role of Seema Sahni, a journalist who becomes a friend and then falls in love with Arun. After watching several of her Tamil-language films from the 1970s, Boney Kapoor cast his future wife in the film and went to Madras (present-day Chennai) to meet her. Kapur said he cast Sridevi solely because she "represented every Indian male's dreams" with "her baby-face" and "luscious body". Having established herself as one of the most popular actresses, she charged the producer to , while her mother Rajeswari Yanger, who often accompanied her, asked for . Kapur actually paid her a higher amount, around . This was the first film Kapur had shot with the actress.
Satish Kaushik, who also served as an associate director alongside Raj Kanwar, portrays Calendar, Arun's assistant. When asked by The Hindu about his character's name, he explained it originated from his father's (a Delhi-based salesman) dealer who liked to insert the word calendar while talking. After hearing the story from his father, Kaushik suggested the idea to Kapur, who liked it immediately. Annu Kapoor features as Gaitonde, Sridevi's newspaper editor; he was paid . Amrish Puri was cast as Mogambo, a character that was inspired by Ibn-e-Safi's Jasoosi Dunya, following his meeting with Boney Kapoor and Kapur while shooting the 1987 thriller Loha in Ooty. It was reported that he received a salary of , making him the highest-paid Indian villain actor of all time. The part was initially offered to Anupam Kher, however, after his screen test, the crew believed he looked "more funny than ferocious". According to Kaushik, Puri was chosen later because of his "menacing" persona. Kapur asked him to imagine he is playing a Shakespearean character to "nine-year-old kid" while portraying Mogambo.
Filming
Baba Azmi began the principal photography of Mr. India on 6 July 1985. In later years, Kapur recalled it as "terrible days" for him and spoke the difficulties he and the film's cast and crew members faced in this period. According to Kapur, "[It] had to be shot slowly because of all the trick photography and technical innovation it entailed." Saroj Khan and Veeru Devgan were the choreographer and action director, respectively, while Bijon Dasgupta finished the production design. A big set was built at the R. K. Studio for Mogambo's sequences. The film's opening scene, featuring a group of governmental officers alighting from heavily armoured vehicles, was shot at the Sophia College for Women in Mumbai.