Did You Know: Not Amrish Puri, But Anupam Kher Was First Choice For 'Mogambo' In 'Mr. India'
Did you know that Amrish Puri was not the first choice for the iconic role of Mogambo.
'Mr. India' is one of the most popular Indian movies ever made. The sci-fi fantasy movie had released in 1987 film and the Shekhar Kapur-directorial stars Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri in leading roles. Amrish Puri's character 'Magambo' is one of the most famous negative characters to come out of Indian cinema, but did you know he was not the first choice for this role?
Yes, you read that right! In a previous interview with news agency IANS, actor Anupam Kher had revealed that he was the first choice for 'Mr. India', rather than Amrish Puri.
“In Mr. India, Mogambo’s role was offered to me before Amrish Puri. However, after one or two months, the filmmakers replaced me. When you are dropped from a film then generally an actor feels bad, but when I watched Mr. India and saw Amrish ji’s work as Mogambo then, I thought that makers of the film took the right decision by casting him in their film,” the actor was quoted as saying by IANS at the time.
For the unversed, 'Mr. India' had won both critical and commercial acclaim, when it was released in theatres in 1987. The movie made on a budget of Rs 38 million, went on to do a business of Rs 100 million.
'Mr. India's sucess had spawned multiple remarks such as 'En Rathathin Rathame' (1989) in Tamil and 'Jai Karnataka' in Kannada.
For the unversed, 'Mr. India' has been written by Salim-Javed, while the movie was bankrolled by Boney Kapoor and Surinder Kapoor.
'Mr. India's director Shekhar Kapur is also known for helming other well-received projects such as 'Masoom', 'Bandit Queen', and 'Elizabeth'.
