Mr India Turns 32! Check Out 32 Interesting Facts About Shekhar Kapur’s Highly Enjoyable Film With Anil Kapoor and Sridevi!

If there is a Bollywood movie that deserved the tag cult classic, Mr India will be there among the top contenders. A film that never loses its rewatch quotient, no matter how many times you have seen it, Mr India remains the best superhero film India has made (no offence, Hrithik Roshan and Krrish). The 1987 film, directed by Shekhar Kapur, was about a good-hearted simpleton, Arun Verma, who takes care of orphan kids but is harassed by the goons of an evil overlord, Mogambo. Arun comes across a device that makes the wearer invisible, and he uses the device and the power it gives to become Mr India and fight evil forces. There is a catch, though - he has to avoid red light! Every Film Has Its Own Destiny: Anil Kapoor on a Possible 'Mr India' Follow-up.

Anil Kapoor essayed the role of Arun Verma aka Mr India, while Amrish Puri plays Mogambo, considered as one of the most iconic villains in Bollywood of all time. The late Sridevi plays the female lead, a nosy but hardworking reporter, Seema, who comes as a paying guest at Arun's house. Mr India is considered as one of Sridevi's best performances, with her scene where she imitates Charlie Chaplin being the highlight!

On May 29, 2019, Mr India celebrates 32 years of release. Director Shekhar Kapur had even tweeted on the film, reminding the fans of the momentous occasion.

So to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the film, we scourged for some amazing trivia about Mr India and selected some of them for your knowledge!

#1 Anil Kapoor was reportedly not the first choice for the lead role of Arun Verma aka Mr India. The makers wanted Amitabh Bachchan in the lead, but the superstar was busy delving in politics.

#2 Even Amrish Puri was not the first choice to play the evil Mogambo, it seems. Anupam Kher was first eyed for the role.

#3 Mr India is the last Bollywood movie that the legendary duo of Salim-Javed had written together.

#4 Interestingly, Salim-Javed got the idea of making a film on an invisible superhero thanks to a muhurat for an Amitabh Bachchan film. The event was performed only using the superstar's recorded voice.

#5 Boney Kapoor is the producer of the film. In the scene where the late Ashok Kumar's character is teaching his class, we can see the phrase 'Boney's Law of Time-Space Continuum' in the blackboard.

#6 Sridevi was reportedly paid Rs 11 lakhs for her role in the film, which was considered as the highest fee for an actress those days. RIP Sridevi! Sadma, Chandni, Mr India - 7 Brilliant Movie Performances To Remember This Screen Goddess Forever.

#7 Future actors like Aftab Shivdasani and Karan Nath had played child artistes in the film.

#8 Even Ahmed Khan, choreographer and director, was a part of the hero Arun Verma's child-gang.

#9 Even at that young age, Ahmed Khan was the best dancer on the set and it is said that Sridevi used to rehearse with him for 'Hawa Hawai' dance steps.

#10 Ashok Kumar, who had a small but integral role in the film, had earlier played an invisible man in the 1957 film, Mr X. That film was later remade in 2014 with Emraan Hashmi in the lead.

#11 Shekhar Kapur was reportedly hired as the director, because of his experience of working with child actors in his earlier film, Masoom.

#12 Aamir Khan, interestingly, wanted to be an assistant director for Shekhar Kapur during the shoot of the film.

#13 Dharmendra had once publically accused the makers of Mr India of stealing the song 'Zindagi Mein Pyar Karna Seekh Le' from his 1966 film Phool Aur Patthar. The song he accused of plagiarising - 'Hawa Hawai'!

#14 Interestingly, both the songs seem inspired by Nat King Cole and Bebel Gilberto's 'Brazilian Love Song'.

#15 Talking more about the 'Hawa Hawai' song, there is a blooper in the track that the composers, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, left there intentionally. Towards the end of the first antara, singer Kavita Krishnamurthy sings 'Jeenu Jo Tumne...' instead of 'Jaano Jo Tumne...'. She rectifies it in the second line, but Laxmikant-Pyarelal leaves the first erroneous word there.

#16 The 'Hawa Hawai' track was later recreated in Kalki Koechlin's Shaitan and also in Vidya Balan's Tumhari Sulu.

#17 Eagle-eyed fans had noticed that Mr India was threatening the goons with an empty revolver in the action scene that follows the above song. Teja had already tried to shoot Mr India with four bullets and fails to hit him, and Mr India shoots two later in the air, before using that empty gun to make everyone toe the line.

#18 During the scene where Arun and Seema get scared of a cockroach, Shekhar Kapur had reportedly spilt whiskey on the insect to make it stand still!

Mr India celebrates 32 years of release:

#19 Mr India is not the only Bollywood movie with that title. There is a 1961 film that shares the same name, starring IS Johar in the lead.

#20 Mr India was the second highest-grossing Indian film of 1987. Dharmendra's Hukumat had beaten it to take the top position.

#21 Though the movie received a lot of acclaim during and after its release, Mr India didn't win any Filmfare awards. The reason for that is that there was no ceremony held in 1987 and 88.

#22 During a Sharjah Cup cricket match, Anil Kapoor promoted the film dressed up as Mr India for the coin toss.

#23 Anil Kapoor, incidentally, wears the same costume throughout the entire film.

#24 For the "Kaante Nahi Kaththi" song, Boney Kapoor had challenged Shekhar Kapur to make Sridevi look more sensuous than her appearance in Jaanbaaz song 'Har Kisi Ko'. The result was an astounding win for Shekhar Kapur.

#24 Aamir Khan and Salman Khan's cult comedy Andaz Apna Apna is set in the same universe as Mr India. Shakti Kapoor's Crime Master Gogo is the nephew of Mogambo, a fact that he keeps on reminding everyone every time he is on screen!

#25 The premise of Mr India was inspired by two yesteryear hits, the aforementioned Ashok Kumar's Mr X and Shammi Kapoor's Bal Brahmachari (Arun taking care of the orphans). Mr X itself is inspired by HG Wells' famous novel, The Invisible Man.

#26 Satish Kaushik, who plays the iconic character Calendar, was also Chief Assistant Director for Mr India.

#27 As per Wikipedia, the famous Parody song in Mr India riff off these popular songs  - "Pyaar Mein Sauda Nahin" (Bobby) "Chaahunga Main Tujhe" (Dosti), "Saavan Ka Mahina" (Milan), "Ek Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai" (Shor), "Tere Mere Beech Mein" (Ek Duuje Ke Liye), "Dhafli Waale Dhafli Baja" (Sargam), "Mera Naam Hai Chameli" (Raja Aur Runk), "Khilona Jaan Kar" (Khilona), "Jhootha Hai Tera Vaada" (Dushman) and "Om Shanti Om" (Karz).

#28 Contrary to popular belief, the late Rajesh Khanna was never considered for the lead role. Salim-Javed used to have an axe to grind with the yesteryear superstar during the shoot of Haathi Mere Saathi and they have never collaborated with each other since.

#29 Mr India was included among one of the 100 Greatest Indian Films of All Time, on the centenary of Indian Cinema.

#30 Mr India also inspired remakes in Tamil in K Bhagyaraj's En Rathathin Rathame and in Kannada as Ambareesh's Jai Karnataka.

#31 Mr India was the last mainstream Bollywood movie that Shekhar Kapur did. He tried to make Time Machine with Aamir Khan and Raveena Tandon, but the movie got shelved. Bandit Queen was the last India film that Shekhar Kapur directed before he trained his eyed towards Western Cinema.

#32 Boney Kapoor had plans to make a sequel to Mr India, bringing the lead pair of Anil Kapoor and Sridevi back. Salman Khan was reportedly offered the role of the antagonist (despite the star's insistence on not doing negative roles). Boney's son Arjun Kapoor also reportedly had a role in the film. After years of speculations, the project was dumped following the untimely demise of Sridevi in 2018.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2019 03:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).