Recently director Ali Abbas Zafar announced that he would be working on an “epic trilogy” based on Shekhar Kapur’s 1987 blockbuster film Mr India. Mr India starred Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. This announcement led to a chain of reactions as Sonam Kapoor took to Instagram to call out Zafar for not consulting her father or Shekhar Kapur before going ahead with the film.
But would Sridevi have wanted a remake of the classic?
According to a report by Asian Age, Sridevi, in an interview, said that she did not think Mr India should be remade in any way.
Here’s what she said:
“I don’t think that ‘Mr. India’ can be remade or turned into a sequel. Such a film just happens. When we were working on it, we never thought it would turn out to be such an influential film. Even today, people remember the film, Mogambo, and my character of the talkative journalist. Everything just came together. Such a happy situation is impossible to repeat.”Sridevi
In light of this, Sonam Kapoor had taken to social media to reveal that she “found out about it (the remake) through social media.” She called the move “quite disrespectful and underhanded” considering Shekhar and Anil were “two people who played a major role in making the film what it was and is”.
Later, Shekhar Kapur, who directed Mr India, also took to social media to express his disappointment over not having any “creative rights” for the film.
He tweeted, “We sit with writers from day one, but are not the writer. Help actors hone performances but are not actors. Develop and create visual language of film. Slave hours over editing consoles. Directors lead and inspire every aspect of a film and have no creative rights? #MrIndia”
(With inputs from Asian Age)
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