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Producer Boney Kapoor recently spoke about being massively in debt after the commercial failure of his expensive sports drama Maidaan. This wasn’t the first time that he’d suffered financially; he suffered after his big-budget 1993 film Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja flopped. In fact, it took him four years to pay off the debts he’d incurred. In an interview with Komal Nahta, Boney Kapoor spoke about going on a marketing overdrive for the film, which didn’t work at all after director Shekhar Kapur quit midway through and had to be replaced.
He said that, at the same time, Pahlaj Nihalani released the film Aankhen with minimal marketing, and the movie ended up doing well. He likened it to YRF’s strategy with the recent blockbuster Saiyaara, which was released without any marketing, and was sold on the strength of its songs and trailer. The movie ended up making more than Rs 500 crore worldwide.
Boney Kapoor said that he would never work with corporates, and that he cannot fathom how studios are spending Rs 30 crore on promotions for their films these days. “These days, promotions aren’t just promotions. The artistes are accompanied by their entourages. You’re not buying tickets just for the actor, but five or six others with them… Most of the corporate honchos don’t know the reality of filmmaking. Sometimes they go haywire on their promotions; they choose actors just because they seem to be big stars, but not going by what the content requires.”
He continued, “Back in the day, Pahlaj Nihalani released the film Aankhen. He didn’t put up a single hoarding, only posters. And it was a blockbuster. Roop Ki Rani came before Aankhen, and we had a major publicity blitz. The picture didn’t do well… Same thing has happened now with Saiyaara. The actors didn’t give interviews, they didn’t go on a city tour, they didn’t dance in malls.”
In a past interview with Galatta India, Boney Kapoor revealed that the movie put him Rs 12 crore in debt, but his wife and family stood by him. He also stressed on the importance of never going MIA, even when people were after him to collect their money. “My wife was there. She walked to Siddhivinayak Temple barefoot. My brothers stood with me,” he said. His son, Arjun Kapoor, said about his father in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, “He’s taken a lot of punches and has risen from them. He is a businessman and a gambler who takes risks. Some people are rich, some don’t have the money but are raees (wealthy); my father is a raees aadmi (wealthy man in spirit).”
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