Boney Kapoor paid Rs 3.5 cr for rights of South film but didn’t make a remake, shot Pukar twice: ‘The film didn’t make money for me’

Reflecting on his earlier days when he would willingly spend additional money to improve his films—something corporate studios would not permit in today’s time—Boney recalled, “I made the film Beta and I showed it to everyone. Everyone liked the film, but we thought that it could be better. I will give credit to Indra Kumar (director of Beta) and Ashok Thakeria (co-producer of Beta) that they shot that film for 40 days. It went on to become a blockbuster. This is the advantage of having an individual producer because corporate won’t allow it.”

He was also asked about his 2000 film Pukar, in which he allegedly asked director Rajkumar Santoshi to reshoot several portions because the film did not turn out exactly as narrated. Responding to this, Boney said, “It was not that Raj didn’t do it, and I didn’t like it, when we see the film on screen, we feel that it can be better. I will not find fault in Raj, but this happened with Pukar. In the film, almost everything was shot two times and some scenes were shot three times.”

Despite its reputation, Boney clarified that Pukar was not a financial disaster across the board. “It’s a myth that Pukar didn’t make money. It didn’t make money for me, but it made money for distributors. It ran for 25 weeks in places like Aurangabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and in a theatre in Mumbai where the road was dug out right outside that theatre.”

Admitting that he was indulgent with his films in the past, which often strained his finances, Boney explained that he has now shifted his approach. “I agree that I was indulgent before, but that’s not the case anymore. Now I correct myself before going to the shoot. Not even even a day was reshot in Maidan and Mili.” He further added, “I have taken out the ghost of Raj Kapoor and K Asif from me.” For the unversed, Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker took six years to make and was a box office flop, leaving the actor/producer in massive debt. Similarly, K Asif took 12 years to make Mughal-e-Azam and was the most expensive film of that time.

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