Boney Kapoor recalls how he convinced Lata Mangeshkar to make rare on-screen appearance in Pukar: ‘It was either her or Mother Teresa’

He said, “God was kind. I pleaded, requested, and somehow, she saw my madness and passion. I showed her the film, whatever we had shot till then, and I said, ‘Only you can do justice to this’. In fact, when the situation was thought of, Rajkumar Santoshi told me, ‘Boney, I want either Mother Teresa or Lata Mangeshkar. I need a very pious personality to sing this song’. Mother Teresa had passed away, and the only choice left with me was to get Lata Mangeshkar.”

He continued, “I followed her for three, four, five months. Every day, I used to meet her, talk to her. She was very sweet. She consented. Imagine, she came to Hyderabad. She was there for a week. And we shot at nights, and she wasn’t keeping too well those days. But she was there; she liked the situation, she liked the song. I feel I’m blessed to be the only filmmaker who has Lata Mangeshkar singing in the film. It was a big deal. It is a big deal.”

Lata Mangeshkar died due to COVID-related complications earlier this year. Released in 2000, Pukar starred Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. Boney Kapoor is still as active as ever; this year alone, he produced Valimai, Nenjuku Needhi, Veetla Vishesham, and Mili.