Meri Jung’s 40: ‘It released on Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday and I would have starred in it,’ reveals Pravesh Sippy 40: Bollywood News

On October 11, 2024, Mary Jung enters his 40s^th year Coincidentally, it is Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday, and the story was originally conceived with him in mind. Producer Pravesh Sippy, de facto producer of the (officially) NN Sippy Production, reveals the secrets of his debut film.

Meri Jung’s 40 Years: “It released on Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday and would have starred in it,” reveals Pravesh Sippy

“I was assisting master-editors Waman Bhosle-Guru Dutt for 18 months. They were our usual scissor hands and I was interested in montage as it was my major at the San Francisco Art Institute, my school of cinema The teachers were editing herowhich was being performed by Subhash Ghai, who had started his directorial entry with my father with Kalicharanand I was impressed by the overall scale and potential of the film. I told my father and over dinner with Ghai at our house, it was decided that he would do a second film for us, almost a decade after his debut, and now he had become a big name,” he said

Sippy added, “And so, it was a large-scale project and Subhash-hey and we approached first rung Javed Akhtar, whose fees then were a hefty Rs. 15 lakh per film. I had this theme that I had written with Amitabh Bachchan in mind, so this too had to be a NN Sippy-Subhash Ghai-Amitabh film, much earlier. Devaa! But Amitabh Bachchan was caught up in his political career and also in his health scare after his accident.”

The filmmaker, however, wanted to make the film soon. “Ghai was not willing to wait as he had already started finalizing dates for Dilip Kumar and others for his next mammoth production. Karma. And Javed and he unanimously decided on Anil Kapoor for the role. The muhurat it was done in June 1984,” he said.

Talking about the relationships they formed through the film, Sippy said, “We as distributors had a long relationship with Amrish Puri-hey moreover, as the film was made, we formed a lasting bond not only with Anil but also with Meenakshi Seshadri. Of course Ghai brought Nutan-hey and Girish Karnad. And it was a mutual decision to bring Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi. Father and Ghai insisted Bakshi-hey as Javed would normally write the lyrics for most of his scripts.”

The film also marked the debut of Jaaved Jaaferi. “Actor Jagdeep-hey He had an old relationship with us and the father had to convince his son, Jaaved Jaaferi, to debut not as a hero but as a villain, albeit with a song-dance to explore this side of his talent! Father and Ghai were also very close to (Sunil) Dutt-saab and I think he must have recommended Khushboo’s name as she had worked with him Dard Ka Rishta. Mary Jung it was also her debut as the second lead,” she said.

He added: “Ghai was always very close to dad, who he would call for his opinion Karz often while it was being made. Having distributed Ghai’s films as Gautam Govinda, Krodhi and even Khan Dostthat he had only written, we and his company, Mukta Arts, came together as one, and the majority Mary Jung was produced from Ghai’s office. I was personally thrown into the fray during production and although Waman-Guru remained the publishers, I never worked with them here.”

Sippy revealed that he was billed as an associate producer, but managed everything from the actors and their dates, and from photo shoots to photo shoots. “I would be interacting even in the creation of the music, like going to Bakshi-heyhouse of laxmi-hey‘yes even at Mehboob Studios for the song recordings and the background score,’ he said.

The film was a great learning experience for Sippy as he added, “Ghai also taught me all the tricks of the trade, how to make a scene look more expensive than it actually was! I still remember that unlike now when we can hire agencies to do these things for us, I had to personally arrange a hundred Maruti cars for the shoot of ‘Bowl baby bowl rock and roll“at Nariman Point!”

Sippy added: “Then there was this unforgettable incident of a huge lorry with a crane on it that was washed away overnight by the high tide at Manori Beach and got stuck in the water while we were doing our first show, which was the shooting of the song ‘Ae mere khwabon ke khayalon ke shehzaade‘. In those days, there was nothing known as VFX and we have to show an explosive explosion underwater. We also had some branding in the film with Marlex and I had to handle that as well.”

Talking about the experience of AN Tagore, Sippy said, “The last point I want to mention is that our recoding genius, veteran AN Tagore of Mehboob Studios, used his magical technical mastery to make a recording stereo with the old-fashioned equipment that was there! Normally, each song would take one to two days to prepare, but with us, each song took 7 to 10 days! Laxmikant-Pyarelal worked hard on the songs, and it is true that Ghai’s choice of melody for ‘Jeet jayenge hum‘ all three Laxmikant options were approved-hey had given him, though Pyare-bhai I had preferred another!”

Looking back on the film’s box office performance, Sippy happily said, “Mary Jungit was a huge hit in Mumbai and many parts of India, and remains a high-quality product that I’m not only proud of, but for me, it made so many individual connections. Even today, fans write so many beautiful things about it that I really love.”

More Pages: Box Office Collection Meri Jung

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