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Mr. India (1987 film)

Mr. India is a 1987 Indian Hindi-language science fiction superhero film directed by Shekhar Kapur and produced jointly by Boney Kapoor and Surinder Kapoor under the Narsimha Enterprises banner. The story and screenplay was written by the duo Salim–Javed in what was their last collaboration before their split. Starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri, the film tells the story of Arun Verma (Kapoor), a humble violinist and philanthropist. He receives a cloaking device that provides invisibility. While renting out his house to pay his debts, he meets a journalist Seema Sahni (Sridevi) and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, criminal Mogambo (Puri) has plans to conquer India.

Plot
Mogambo is a criminal with a private army and a goal to conquer India. From his hidden island, he monitors all the crimes perpetrated by his henchmen to destabilise India. He has complete loyalty of his army who acknowledge him with the phrase "Hail Mogambo!". Mogambo, is also seen as ill tempered and his entire staff is mostly relieved when he says "Mogambo khush hua" (Hindi for "Mogambo is happy"). Mogambo's ultimate aim is to get a device that would turn people invisible, this, he thinks, will help him conquer India and the rest of the world more easily. Meanwhile Arun Verma(the protagonist) is a street violinist and philanthropist who rents an old house that he calls a "hostel" to take care of orphaned children with the help of his cook named "Calendar". Arun is seldom able to make ends meet and is in deep debt, so he decides to rent out a room on the first floor. Seema Soni, his first tenant, is a local journalist who eventually becomes friends with everyone. One day Arun meets a family friend, Professor Sinha and learns that Arun's late father, a renowned scientist, had created a cloaking device that would make its user invisible. It is also revealed in a flashback that Mogambo was responsible for Arun's father's death. Later, Sinha is identified by Mogambo's henchmen and they try to abduct him to get the device but Sinha flees. Arun then receives a letter from Sinha that explains where the device is hidden. With the directions in the letter, and accompanied by his ward, Arun enters his father's old laboratory, where he finds the device. He then wears the device and when he activates it, he becomes invisible. It is revealed that the invisibility does not work on the color Red and the person can be seen under red light or through red glass. Arun decides to use the invisibility to fight crime with another identity and calls himself "Mr. India". He starts by fighting corrupt businesses in his neighbourhood, which happen to be Mogambo's. Meanwhile, Seema being a crime reporter for a local news daily assumes the identity of a Hawaiian dancer "Hawa Hawaii" and infiltrates a lavish party hosted by Daga, one of Mogambo's goons. But she is identified and caught by Daga. She is, however rescued by Mr. India. Seema subsequently falls in love with Mr. India. On another occasion, Arun uses the device to trick one of Mogambo's henchmen to foil his criminal plan of stealing a gold idol of the Hindu god Hanuman from a temple. On hearing about the invisible Mr. India, Mogambo is pleased that he finally has a way to get to the invisibility device. He, then orders bombs to be placed around the country so that Mr. India can be baited to help and then be caught. Tina, a child who stays at Arun's hostel is killed by one such bomb disguised as a toy. Mogambo, understands that though Mr. India tries to protect the entire country he is particularly fond of the kids in Arun's hostel. Hence, Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the other children at the hostel are abducted by Mogambo and brought to his secret hideout on the remote island. Arun admits to being Mr. India when Mogambo threatens to kill two of the children; but because Arun has lost the device by accidentally dropping it somewhere during the capture, he cannot become invisible to prove himself. Mogambo gives them time to correctly identify Mr. India and sends them into a cell. They manage to escape after stealing the keys from a guard. Meanwhile, Mogambo activates four intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are poised to destroy all of India. Arun confronts him, the two fight, and Arun gains an upper hand. But as he is about to stop the missiles, Mogambo warns that the missiles have been fuelled and if he stops them now they will fail to launch and blow the island up . Nevertheless, Arun deactivates the launch, and the missiles detonate on the launch pad. Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the children escape; Mogambo's fortress is destroyed, and Mogambo dies. It is later shown in an epilogue that Mr. India is being felicitated and all the children, Arun and Seema are at the ceremony. == Cast ==
Cast
Anil Kapoor as Arun Verma/Mr. India • Sridevi as Seema Soni • Ramesh Deo as a police inspector • Ajit Vachani as Teja • Bob Christo as Mr. Wolcott • Harish Patel as Roopchand • Anjan Srivastav as Baburam • Satish Kaushik as Calendar • Ahmed Khan as an orphan kid • Aftab Shivdasani as Orphan • Yunus Parvez as Maniklal • Sharat Saxena as Daga • Gurbachan Singh as Captain Zorro == Production ==
Production
Development After watching Shekhar Kapur's family film Masoom (1983), producer Boney Kapoor approached him to make another film with themes related to children; Kapur immediately accepted the offer and received a salary. Salim–Javed, a duo consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, was signed to write the story and screenplay for . Kapur wrote the dialogue in Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu. Boney Kapoor co-produced the film alongside his father, Surinder Kapoor, under the Narsimha Enterprises banner. Casting Anil Kapoor and Sridevi were cast as the main protagonists, Amrish Puri as the principal antagonist. Anil Kapoor plays Arun, a poor street violinist and philanthropist who rents a large, old house to help ten orphans. Salim–Javed made the role specifically for Rajesh Khanna, but later they asked Amitabh Bachchan to play it when they found Khanna did not suit the role. Bachchan, however, felt that the concept of an invisible man would overshadow his performance, saying, "The real hero of the film is an invisible character. So why do you need me?". The duo took this as an "insult", and at a Holi festival held a few days later, Akhtar told him that neither he nor Khan would work with him again. In fact, Khan never said that and blamed Akhtar for this misunderstanding. This resulted in their split, making Mr. India their final collaboration. In an interview with Rediff.com, Anil Kapoor admitted he added his "own style" to the role so the audience would not realize it "was going to be done" by Bachchan. Sridevi was given the role of Seema Sahni, a journalist who becomes a friend and then falls in love with Arun. After watching several of her Tamil-language films from the 1970s, Boney Kapoor cast his future wife in the film and went to Madras (present-day Chennai) to meet her.