Chhaayaageet #98 - "I want her to look her like she's never looked before."
At 8-8.5 lakh rupees per film, she is the highest paid heroine in the industry. The filmmaker is determined to cast her in his next film. He has a meeting with her mother, who handles her affairs. With pleasantries out of the way, conversation turns to commercials. Seeing the filmmaker's strong intent, the mother quotes 10 lakh. She expects a counter. He does counter. "I'll pay 11 lakh", he says. How does this make good financial sense? It doesn't. But it doesn't need to. All that matters to the filmmaker is that he signs her for his first film with her. "She is every Indian man's dream, the perfect seductress, with a baby face that doesn't know what her body is doing", he would say later explaining his choice to cast her. What's an extra 1 lakh here or there when you are making a blockbuster with the highest paid heroine?
With the rest of the cast, script, screenplay all in place, filming begins. It is an ambitious project and there is a lot of curiosity about the film.
Some days later, the filmmaker watches a screening of another film. His heroine is also the leading lady of that film. The filmmaker is a bit disturbed. Specifically he cannot get a song out of his head. She looked so beautiful in that song, so alluring and sexy, wearing a sari. Nothing cheap or vulgar. He knows that song will be a super hit.
The filmmaker goes straight to his director and the cinematographer. They have a schedule coming up to shoot a song in Srinagar for their own film.
"I want her to look like she's never looked before. I'm paying her the most anybody has ever paid her for a film. She's got to look the best in our song", he issues a directive. "I want you to insert grown up feelings in a family film without it being tasteless", he adds further.
The director is one film old. It was a parallel cinema film with a family plot revolving around children four years ago. Not exactly a commercial blockbuster film resume. And now he has just been assigned the task of presenting the highest paid heroine in the industry in the most beautiful and sensuous way possible.
The crew lands in Srinagar for the schedule. The dance master has also been given the brief. She has not been able to get together with the heroine in Mumbai to choreograph the dance and rehearse. If only she can get a few hours on set with the heroine.
Not as easy as it sounds. On the day of the shoot, the heroine is running a high fever. She has to look unimaginably beautiful, learn sensuous dance steps, and shoot. Piece of cake for a diva.
The heroine and the dance master get together. "Masterji, I have never done anything like this before", she says to the ace choreographer.
"Me neither, dear", the choreographer replies.
In the song, the hero is invisible, but yet he's touching her. The choreographer's assistant is standing in for the hero for rehearsals. She lets him touch her.
"Now you watch me Masterji, the way he touches me, the way he holds me in his arms...see if my movements are correct", she rehearses her movements without a hero in the frame.
"Go stand behind her and pull her towards you", the choreographer instructs her assistant. "I want to see a jerking movement as if the hero is pulling you from behind", an instruction to the heroine.
The hero of the film is perplexed. He is being treated as an extra on set. He is kept waiting for his close ups. One quick shot of him, and the director, cinematographer and filmmaker leave him and gather around the heroine for her next sequences.
As shooting of the song progresses into the night, the heroine gives it her all, despite running a fever and having to shoot a sequence in studio rain.
Boney Kapoor produced the 1987 blockbuster Mr. India, starring Sridevi and Anil Kapoor. With the Kate nahin katate song he achieved his dream of making Sridevi look better than she'd ever been presented wearing a chiffon sari in a song. For having paid the highest fees to Sridevi, he wanted her to look even better than the song Har kisiko nahin milta yahan pyar zindagi mein from Feroz Khan's Janbaaz.
Kate nahin katate became an extremely popular song, sung by Kishore Kumar and Alisha Chinai, music by Laxmikant Pyarelal, lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Laxmikant Pyarelal came up with a intense and loud score, and Javed Akhtar used harsh consonants "ka" and "ta" in the words to match the intensity of the music, punctuated with the soft "I love you" to embellish the romance in the song.
Boney Kapoor selected Shekhar Kapur to direct the film because he liked Shekhar Kapur's work with children in his first film Masoom. Mr. India was the highly anticipated film of 1987. With no technology at their disposal, Shekhar Kapur and cinematographer Baba Azmi used in-camera photography and other creative ideas to achieve the special effects for the trick scenes in the film.
Amrish Puri's Mogambo and the signature line "Mogambo khush hua" became a rage. Boney Kapoor was initially not too thrilled with the line. Javed Akhtar told him that this line is going to be so popular that when Kapil Dev hits a six in a cricket match, people will say this line. And true enough, a spectator in the stands of a cricket match, held up a poster with the words "Mogambo khush hua" after Kapil Dev hit a six.
Anil Kapoor and Sridevi's performances were universally acclaimed. Pritish Nandy praised Sridevi's "effortless sensuality that results in a collective orgasm at the rise of a single eyebrow, let alone elaborate song sequences in the rain where she flaunts her every single asset, with ease insouciance".
In 2013, Sridevi was awarded the Special Award at the Filmfare Awards for her performance in Mr. India and Nagina. With her passing, the film industry lost an actress without parallel.
*ing: Sridevi, Anil Kapoor
Singers: Alisha Chinai, Kishore Kumar
Music: Laxmikant Pyarelal
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Dance: Saroj Khan
Cinematography: Baba Azmi
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Producer: Boney Kapoor
Film: Mr. India (1987)