Mr. India

Mr. India
Directed by	Shekhar Kapur
Produced by	Boney Kapoor
Written by	Salim-Javed
Starring	Anil Kapoor Sridevi Amrish Puri
Music by	Laxmikant-Pyarelal Javed Akhtar (lyrics)
Cinematography	Baba Azmi
Editing by	Waman Bhonsle Gurudutt Shirali
Distributed by	Narsimha Enterprises
Release date(s)	25 May 1987
Running time	181 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mr. India (Hindi: मिस्टर इंडिया) is a 1987 Hindi science fiction superhero film directed by Shekhar Kapur. It stars Anil Kapoor in the title role, Sridevi as his romantic interest and Amrish Puri in one of his best-known roles as the villain Mogambo.

The film was the second biggest hit of 1987 after the Anil Sharma film, Hukumat, which starred Dharmendra. It remains a cult classic in India. The film was known for several of its lines and songs, including Sridevi's Miss Hawa Hawaii performance, and Amrish Puri's quote "Mogambo khush hua" (Mogambo is pleased), which is one of the most famous quotes of Bollywood and has become synonymous with Puri.^[1] The Mogambo character is also considered to be one of the best villains in Bollywood history.^[1] Laxmikant-Pyarelal's music performed well too, especially the song Hawa Hawaii which is very popular till today. The film has often been featured in different lists of top Bollywood films. Indiatimes Movies ranks the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.^[2] This was the last film that the writing duo Salim-Javed wrote together. They had split up earlier in 1982, but came back for one last film.

There is one more movie by the name Mr. India (1961) directed by GP Sippy starring Geeta Bali, I.S. Johar, Kamaljit, Helen. This is the last film directed by GP Sippy of Sholay fame. ^[3]

Plot

The film opens with the revelation that violence has escalated in India, alarming all who know of its having done so. The focus then shifts to reveal the central villain, Mogambo (Amrish Puri). Two henchmen, Teja (Ajit Vachani) and Daaga (Sharat Saxena) arrive by chopper to report to Mogambo their progress in their subversive activities against India, which include selling weapons and armaments to terrorists and starting illegal gambling dens all over the country. Mogambo is portrayed as a brilliant yet insane General whose goal is to conquer India. He asserts his domination over his men by commanding three soldiers to leap into a pit filled with concentrated acid to certain death and utters, with satisfaction, his signature line Mogambo khush hua ("Mogambo is pleased"), when his lackeys obey his orders without question.

The island of Mogambo is modeled after the island of Dr. No; it is a self-contained colony, having advanced communications, weapons, and laboratories to build various high-tech devices. Mogambo sits on his throne in the island, monitoring the evil perpetrated by his henchmen all over India and hoping to someday conquer India entirely. All his subordinates know the formal salute "Hail Mogambo!" (with an accompanying "Heil Hitler" style gesture). This emphasizes his complete authority over his minions.

The film then introduces Arun Verma (Anil Kapoor), an orphan and a street-walking violinist who rents a large (mostly run-down) old house overlooking a beach. There he houses a dozen or so orphaned children, aged 5-12 approximately, who call him "Arun Bhaiyya" ("brother Arun"). He takes care of them with the help of his cook and caretaker Calendar (Satish Kaushik). Arun is generally poor, owes debts to the local food merchant Roopchand (Harish Patel), and is perpetually overdue to pay the landlord Maniklal (Yunus Parvez). In spite of these practical problems, Arun tries to look on the bright side of every situation and generally has fun with Calendar and the children.

As time goes by, Calendar gently reminds Arun that cost of running the home continues to rise and that they need to supplement Arun's meager takings as an ad-hoc violinist. Arun agrees and decides to rent out the sea-facing room on the first floor. When he goes to the local newspaper to run an advertisement for the room, he meets Seema Sohni (Sridevi). After an amusing incident between them, he makes her his tenant despite her reluctance to live in company of children.

When Seema ultimately discovers the children, she feels betrayed and gets angry; but when she sees Arun's plight and the nobility of his cause, she warms to them and eventually becomes friends with everyone.

The film undergoes a turning point when Arun suddenly receives a mysterious letter from a family friend, Dr. Sinha (Ashok Kumar), who reveals that Arun's late father had created a device that would make its user invisible.

With the directions in the letter, Arun, accompanied by his ward Jugal, enters his father's laboratory and finds the device. The device is in the shape of a large gold watch and worn on the wrist. When it is activated, it makes the wearer invisible to the naked eye. This invisibility is pervasive except for one flaw: when red light is focused on the wearer, he becomes visible. Thus, shining a red lamp on the subject, or viewing the subject through a red lens, makes the subject visible again.

Arun and Jugal decide to keep the device a secret between them. Around this time, Seema overhears a suspicious conversation on phone and goes to a lavish party hosted by Teja and Daaga. The party includes a cabaret-style song performed by Seema under the guise of a Hawaiian dancer. Her disguise is spoiled, whereupon she is nearly killed by the criminals. Here, Arun invisibly rescues her, styling himself "Mr. India".

As a result of this, Seema discovers she is romantically attracted to her rescuer, though not to his civilian alter ego. She arranges to meet with him, and a dance ensues. Because the gazebo in which they are courting is curtained by red curtains, Seema and the film's viewers can see Arun's silhouette through them, though he is wearing his invisibility and therefore cannot be seen when she looks at him directly.

Mr. India later defeats Mogambo's men in several encounters, foiling their criminal plans. Mogambo is enraged and intrigued by the "invisible man". One of his scientists, Mr. Fumanchu, informs him that they nearly acquired the invisibility-causing device when Dr. Verma invented it many years ago, but failed when Dr. Verma hid it and died without revealing its location.

Mogambo's computer-aided intelligence teams reveal that Mr. India's specific actions against the gambling den bring benefit to Arun Verma and his charges. Mogambo therefore has bombs disguised as toys and planted in places where children can find them. In total harmony with Mogambo's plan, one of the bombs kills Arun's youngest and dearest charge, Tina, driving Arun to immense grief. Later, Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the surviving children are brought before Mogambo.

Mogambo threatens and tortures them so that they may reveal Mr. India's true identity and the location of the invisibility device. Arun eventually volunteers to this when Mogambo threatens to drop two children into the pit of concentrated acid; but because Arun has dropped the invisibility bracelet, he cannot become invisible to prove himself. Frustrated, Mogambo orders the lot of them sent into the dungeons.

They all escape from the dungeons, whereupon Calendar, and the children go one way, while Arun and Seema go another. Mogambo spitefully activates four gigantic missiles, which are poised to destroy all of India. Arun confronts him, and the two fight. When Arun has overcome Mogambo, he deactivates the launch of the missiles, pausing to consider Mogambo's statement that preventing the launch would cause the missiles to explode on the spot. Arun, Seema, Calendar, and the children escape, while Mogambo's fortress is destroyed. Mogambo himself dies in the fire, uttering the phrase "Hail Mogambo!" as the flame engulfs him.

Arun's dual identity remains a secret to most people, while he returns to his former life.

Cast

• Anil Kapoor .... Arun Varma / Mr. India
• Sridevi .... Seema Sohni / Miss Hawa Hawaii / Charlie Chaplin in the casino of Karga Social Club
• Amrish Puri .... Mogambo
• Satish Kaushik .... Calender the Cook
• Annu Kapoor .... Mr. Gaitonde (Newspaper Editor)
• Sharat Saxena .... Daaga
• Ajit Vachani .... Teja
• Ashok Kumar .... Prof. Sinha
• Aftab Shivdasani.... Orphan (Child Artist)
• Vivan Bhatena.... Orphan
• Karan Nath .... Orphan
• Ahmed Khan .... Orphan
• Vidya Mohan .... Orphan
• Tapan Shah .... Orphan
• Harish Patel .... Roopchand
• Gurbachchan Singh .... Captain Zorro
• Anjan Srivastav .... Baburam
• Bob Christo .... Mr. Wolcott
• Ramesh Deo .... Police Commissioner
• Kunika ... Neelum (Special Appearance)

Soundtrack

Mr.India
Soundtrack album by Laxmikant-Pyarelal
Genre	Hindi Film Soundtrack
Label	Sa Re Ga Ma
Producer	Laxmikant-Pyarelal

Track #	Song	Singer(s)
1	"Hawa Hawaii"	Kavita Krishnamurthy
2	"Mr.India"	Kishore Kumar, Kavita Krishnamurthy
3	"Parody Song"	Anuradha Paudwal, Shabbir Kumar
4	"I Love You"	Kishore Kumar, Alisha Chinai
5	"Zindagi Ki Yahin"	Kishore Kumar
6	"Zindagi Ki Yahin" (Sad)	Kavita Krishnamurthy

Sequel

A sequel to the 1987 film titled Mr. India 2 is going to be produced by Boney Kapoor and the film is going to be shot in 3D ^[4]. According to the rumours, Salman Khan might play a negative role in the film. Anil Kapoor and Sridevi are to reprise their roles as Arun Verma and Seema Sohni respectively. The film's budget is said to be 100 crore.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Top 20 Villains of Bollywood
2. ^ Kanwar, Rachna (3 October 2005). "25 Must See Bollywood Movies". Indiatimes movies. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822132950/movies.indiatimes.com/Special_Features/25_Must_See_Bollywood_Movies/articleshow/msid-1250837,curpg-6.cms. Retrieved 2010-11-08. 
3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482800/
4. ^ 3D sequel of Mr.India

External links

• Mr. India at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. India (1987) & The history of Invisible Man in Hindi films.