Mr. India Movie (1987) Interesting Facts, Mistakes

Mr. India Movie Story Summary

A poor but big-hearted man takes orphans into his home. After discovering his scientist father's invisibility device, he rises to the occasion and fights to save his children and all of India from the clutches of a megalomaniac.

Mr. India Movie Stars

Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Amrish Puri

Mr. India Movie Storyline

Orphaned as a child, Arun Verma (Anil Kapoor) has dedicated his adult life to looking after orphaned children, in a house where he is unable to afford to pay the rent nor even day to day expenses for necessities. He decides to rent one of the rooms, and the tenant is a newspaper reporter named Seema Sohni (Sridevi), who happens to dislike children. Internation crime lord and terrorist Mogambo (Amrish Puri) takes an interest in his very house to store his firearms, and other weapons, and sends his men to force Arun to vacate. Arun and some of the children are beaten-up and threatened with dire consequences if they do not vacate the house. Arun's dad's friend Professor Sinha (Ashok Kumar) shows Arun a device that will make in him invisible, and thereby he will find a way to fight to keep the house. Arun tries the device, and he becomes invisible. Using this, he is able to turn the tables on Mogambo's men, and calls himself "Mr.India". Mr. India becomes popular with the masses, and people everywhere rejoice and claim him to be their new savior. No one knows that Mr. India is Arun, save for Jugal (Aftab Shivdasani). This does not auger well with Mogambo, and he spreads his terror, killing hundreds of innocent citizens, including a child in Arun's care. Mogambo decides to kidnap the children, Seema, and Arun himself, and hopes to trap Mr. India, when he attempts to rescue them. The abduction takes place, and Arun, Seema, and the children are locked in a cell. In this skirmish, Arun misplaces the device, while Seema and the children await the arrival of Mr. India to rescue them, not knowing that time is running out, and Mogambo has already planned their deaths in a pit full of acid.

Mr. India Movie Interesting Facts

• Amitabh Bachchan was offered to play the role of Mr India but he declined as he was into politics and was not doing many movies. Shekar Kapur wanted Anupam Kher to play the role of Mogambo but then switched to Amrish Puri as he wanted someone who looked scary.
• When Prof. Sinha is first talking to his students in the class, on the blackboard behind him are displayed formulae from varied branches of science - mathematics, chemistry etc. Prominently visible is "Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum". Boney Kapoor is the producer of the movie.
• In 1957, Nanabhai Bhatt made a movie with the title of "Mr. X" in which Ashok Kumar played the role of Mr. X and invisible man. This was the first Hindi movie to be made with a invisible man as the theme. Interestingly, Ashok Kumar who played the title role in the 1957 movie plays a supporting role as Professor Sinha in Mr. India.
• This was the last film that the writing duo Salim-Javed wrote together. Although they had split much before in early 1980's, but they came back one last time to script this movie.
• The sequel which was announced its plot was that it would be after 23 years where is Mr India and what happened to the invisibility formula,and a new terrorist arrives who wants to rule India and it was announced that Salman Khan would play the terrorist.
• The film took its major inspiration from the world famous story of H. G. Wells, and the renowned writer, is known as the original creator of "The Invisible Man" concept in the world of literature.
• In 2008 Boney Kapoor announced a sequel to the film which was supposed to be comeback of Sridevi,Anil Kapoor and Sridevi would play the leads and Salman Khan would play character similar to Mogambo,AR Rahman was signed as the music director,the film is to be shot in 3D format but still the film hasn't gone on floors,technicians were said to be called from abroad to create Salman's look.
• Anil Kapoor is seen in the same pair of clothes and hat in the whole film.
• When Dagga & Teja interrogate Ms.Hawa Hawaii and Mr. India shows up for the first time, Teja shoots 4 bullets out of the revolver before being slapped by Mr. India. Mr. India then shoots the chains of Hawa Hawaii with two bullets before pointing the (now empty) gun at the villains.
• Before the film's shooting started, Aamir Khan begged Shekhar Kapur if he could be his assistant while directing the film. Satish Kaushik shot down the idea thinking Aamir Khan was too sophisticated and rich and would show up every day to the film's shooting in expensive cars . This theory of Aamir Khan would be proven wrong.
• A very drunk Dharmendra came on stage at the famous Hope 86 show. He grabbed the microphone right after Sri Devi's Hawa Hawai performance and said Hawa Hawai was a copy of the song Pyar Karna Seekh Le from his Phool Aur Patthar. Both songs were inspired from Nag King Cole's Brazillian Love Song. Dharmendra was angry that Boney Kapoor was using Hope 86 to promote his upcoming film Mr. India. Hope 86 was a charity event Boney should not have used the event for his personal gain.
• While shooting for Mr for the cockroach scene, Shekar Kapur wasn't able to catch a proper frame of the cockroach. The scene needed the cockroach to be at one place where it had to look like it is staring Anil Kapoor and Sridevi when ever the camera would roll the cockroach would move. Finally Shekar Kapur bought his favorite rum and put it around the cockroach.The cockroach would go taste the rum and comeback and stand still finally Shekar Kapur got the shot he wanted.
• Sridevi's stunning look in the song Kate Nahi Katte Din Yeh Raat was inspired from her previous look from Jaanbaaz 1986 in the song Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta Yaha Payr Zindagi Mein.
• Anil Kapoor and Sridevi both had given their best performances in the film.But Sridevi was appreciated more hence many started calling the film Miss India.
• Satish Kaushik who assisted Shekar Kapur in the film and also acted as Calender later completed two films of Shekar Kapur Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja 1993 and Prem 1995 which he had left mid way.
• The climax of the film where the Island blasts was inspired from 1980 film Shaan.
• Last Hindi film completely directed by Shekar Kapur before moving to Hollywood.He later left many of his films mid way.Joshilaay 1989,Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja 1993,Prem 1995,Dushmani 1995 and Barsaat 1995.Also Had started a science fiction film Time Machine with Aamir Khan,Rekha,Naseeruddin Shah,Raveena Tandon,Amrish Puri,Gulshan Grover and Vijay Anand which never released.
• Shekar Kapur wasn't happy with the dialog Mogambo Kush Hua.Javed Akthar told him tomorrow the dialog would become a range and every winner in a game would say Mogambo Kush Hua.If Kapil Dev hits a six in a cricket match crowd would say Mogambo Kush Hua this prediction of Javed Akthar turned true when Shekar Kapur was watching a cricket match and Kapil Dev hit a six where a person flashed a banner saying Mogambo Kush Hua.
• The film Zamana was first planned in 1980. Salim and Javed and written the script for Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan. But then they both had a falling out with Amitabh. They even vowed not to work with Amitabh again. The problem lay in the film "Mr.India". The film was written for Amitabh Bachchan. Salim and Javed were planning to turn producers with the film. They would only need 15 days of Amitabh's time since his character would be invisible for most of the film. They arranged a meeting to discuss Amitabh's price he would charge. Amitabh's brother Ajitabh was representing Amitabh at the meeting. But something went wrong. Many speculate that Amitabh demanded a hefty fee and was not going to give Salim and Javed a concession rate. This is when Javed pulled Salim aside and told him that they were the ones who made "Amitabh Bachchan". If he was going to act big now,then they did not need him. At this point Salim asked Javed who would do the film then ? They could not approach Rajesh Khanna because Javed and Rajesh had a fist fight at a party a few months earlier. Javed stated he was willing to apologize to Rajesh Khanna and Salim fix a date with Khanna. Javed went and met Khanna and they drank till 4 am . Salim and Javed shelved Mr.India and decided to go forward with Zamana. Amitabh took this as a personal attack and decided to avoid Salim and Javed. But a year later, Salim and Javed split and Javed Akhtar went back to Amitabh. This angered Salim because Javed went back against his word to boycott Amitabh and all his films.
• Rajesh Khanna was offered the part of Mr. India but turned it down.
• Indo Canadian professional wrestler Rish Koya, used the ring name "Mr.India" for his pro wrestling career. This was done as a tribute to his favorite movie,Mr.India . He is from the Fiji Islands and is of Indian descent.
• In the opening and quite a few scenes Mogambo's men making gestures 'Hail Mogambo' quite a reminiscent of Nazi Power Salute.
• Actor Aftab Shivdasani & Choreographer Ahmed Khan appear as child artists in the film. They play one of the Orphan kids
• This film was written by Salim-Javed before they split and this film was made after their split. When they wrote the film, they wanted Amitabh Bachchan in the lead with Ramesh Sippy directing the film. Ramesh Sippy read the script and rejected the idea because be knew it was going to be an expensive film. Shaan had just flopped and Ramesh Sippy did not want to do another big budget film. This film was Salim Javed last release as written by Salim-Javed.
• Before Mr. India, Boney Kapoor and Bapu had announced a film titled "Govinda". Starring Anil Kapoor and Sri Devi. They decided to shelve the film and start Mr.India.
• The film Elaan (1971) was a source of inspiration for the film.
• Kishore Kumar was in he intention that Rajesh Khanna was on board for the film so he decided to sing for the film.
• Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja 1993 was launched during the success party of Mr India.
• The original plan was to shoot the film's special effects abroad. This would have cost Boney Kapoor allot of money . Shekhar Kapoor sat down every night with a man who is a wizard for special effects in India and made him come up with scenes that saved Boney Kapoor allot of money.
• Boney claimed he paid Shekhar Kapur very little money for the film. Had he taken Ramesh Sippy he would've had to paid a larger amount. He signed Shekhar because he and Shabana had gone to visit Shekhar in the hospital in 1981. At that time Shekhar wanted to make Masoom. Boney was so impressed with how Shekhar was explaining each scene in detail. Plus Shekhar never assisted anyone so his vision of filmmaking was amazing and outstanding. Boney had decided he would sign Shekhar one day.
• The dance number 'Hawa Hawai', cited by The Times of India as "one of the unforgettable numbers of Sridevi", also became a popular nickname for the actress. Besides comedy, Sridevi featured in the video for the song "Kaate Nahin Kat Te"; Filmfare described Sridevi as "truly a goddess in a blue sari".
• Sridevi, who was already the highest paid Indian actress of the era was paid an then unprecedented 11 lakh rupees to play the female lead, which was the highest ever paid to a woman during that period.
• The film was the second highest-grossing Indian film of 1987, and remains a cult classic in India.
• The film was also remade in Tamil as En Rathathin Rathame, starring K. Bhagyaraj in Kannada as Jai Karnataka, starring Ambareesh.
• Janet Jackson song " What Have You Done For Me Lately" plays in the restaurant while Ajit Vachani is on a date.
• In the year 1961 Filmmaker G.P.Sippy made a film and the titled was Mr. India with I.S.Johar and Greta Bali.
• Hawaa Hawai had a remix in the film Shaitan in 2011.
• The song Khate Nahin Khati Hain Din Ya Raat was inspired from the song Dheere Chal Ae Bheege Hawa from Boyfriend (1961) and Denewala Do Dil Deta from Tasveer (1966).
• The film is dedicated in memory of late actress Geeta Bali.
• After Amitabh declined the film, Shekhar Kapur wanted Kamal Haasan for the role. They had discussions,but Kamal had a injury and was not able to commit to the film. That is when Boney Kapoor came into the picture and decided to produce the film.
• The dialogue of Amish Puri " Mogembo Khush Hua " became very much famous.
• Was the first film of Anil Kapoor starting with "Mr". He followed with Mr Azaad and Mr Bechara. Both were flops.
• Aftab Shivdasani made his acting debut in this movie as a child actor.
• Anil Kapoor's character's name in the movie is Arun Verma. This was also the name of the characters he played in "Mr. India" and "Gharwali Baharwali".
• Salim Javed wanted to write a script for Amitabh Bachchan in which he would be invisible most of the time as he was busy those days.After Salim Javed broke up the script came in favor of Javed Akthar but by that time Amitabh Bachchan was taking break from acting to focus on political car rear.WhenJave Akthar narrated the script to Boney Kapoor he wanted Rajesh Khanna for the film but he declined it due to invisibility theme.Boney Kapoor then decided to cast his brother Anil Kapoor in the lead.
• Boney Kapoor wanted Shekar Kapoor to direct the film as he had directed much acclaimed children film Masoom 1982.
• Mogambo's character was not written for a along every time Shekar Kapur would ask Javed Akthar he would saying he is giving his villain.The shooting of the film has also started and Shekar Kapur was worried how would his villain be.
• Once during discussion of film Boney Kapoor joined who had just returned after watching Feroze Khan's Jaanbaaz 1986 and felt that till date nobody had shown Sridevi so beautiful as shown by Feroze Khan in the song Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta.He wanted Shekar Kapur to take this to another level and his hard work payed as Sridevi looked much beautiful in the song Kate Nahi Katte Din Yeh Raat then the song Har Kisi Ko Nahi Milta.
• In 2019 Singapore's Madame Tussaud's Measuem created a wax statue of Sridevi with her Hawa Hawaii look in golden outfit.
• Clashed with Dance Dance and Muqaddar Ka Faisla.
• Film was the biggest hit among all 4 Eid releases and proved a blockbuster at the box office in 1987.
• Shown on Channel 4 TV in the UK in a Saturday morning slot in the early 1990s. To get it down to 3 hours (including adverts), they unforgivably edited out Sridevi's iconic Charlie Chaplin sequence.

Mr. India Movie Mistakes

• There is a continuity error while is talking with Anil Kapoor on the sea beach (time approx 1h38m02s). You will see that Sridevi is wearing a rectangular yellow-white earring. In the next shoot the earring is replaced by a circular yellow earring.
• In the song "Bijli ki Rani", Sridevi's golden shoes alternate between flats and heels.
• During the fight between Arun and Mogambo, in a flashback clip, Tina was shown lying down in the coffin but breathing with her stomach moving.

Useful External Links

Mr. India Movie on Wikipedia 

Mr. India Movie on IMDB