A couple of years ago, an entire generation of moviegoers got introduced to the cinema of Vidhu Vinod Chopra when they watched 12th Fail. While the ideas of the film could be debated, one cannot deny that Vinod instantly connected with the audience. For many youngsters, this was their first Vidhu Vinod Chopra film. But the generation that grew up hearing tales of Parinda, this was the resurgence of the director who once scored an Academy Award nomintion. Vinod, however, has directed very few mainstream films in his long career –1942 A Love Story, Kareeb, Eklavya, among a few others but his most ambitious project to date was Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt-starrer Mission Kashmir, which released in 2000.
In the January of 2000, Hrithik Roshan, with the release of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, had shaken up the established star system, much like Saiyaara did this year. Hrithik had charmed everyone and his subsequent releases in the same year had the audience going back for more. But, contrary to what they had seen in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, Fiza and Mission Kashmir, did not have him playing the traditional hero. ‘Hrithik-mania’ was still at its peak but where was ‘Hrithik-the star’ in these new films? The makers of Fiza and Mission Kashmir found themselves under intense pressure for their films were being sold at a higher price, and come what may, they had to deliver. Mission Kashmir, especially, found itself in a tough spot when it found itself clashing with Shah Rukh Khan’s Mohabbatein. In the 10 months since Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’s release, Hrithik was being pitched as SRK’s competitor and the clash of the two films now was all about SRK vs Hrithik.
For director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Mission Kashmir was a “journey into past in search of future.” The director had spent his formative years in Kashmir, and his parents left the state after the exodus in 1990. For him, this was a love letter to his homeland, and an attempt to preach a message of peace and harmony.
Hrithik Roshan was hired for Rs 11 lakh, would get only Rs 1 lakh if the film flopped
Vinod had originally thought of casting Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan in the film, but eventually ended up casting Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik in those roles. “Something went wrong,” Dutt said in a chat with Bollywood Hungama without explaining what went on behind the scenes. But, Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City elaborated on this episode. Mehta was one of the writers on the film and he shared that Shah Rukh’s fee of Rs 30 lakh was way above Vinod’s budget, and Amitabh, who had initially shown some interest in the film, also backed out after his dates were taken over by Yash Chopra for Mohabbatein (SRK went on to join Bachchan in the same film). But, this decision to change the cast “cut the market value of the film in half,” music composer Shankar Mahadevan told Runima Borah Tandon. At this point, Dutt was not seen as a bankable star, and Hrithik was virtually unknown as his debut was still in the making. He had only landed the part because Vinod saw some rushes of his debut and knew that this was a star in the making. Tabu was previously considered, but Preity Zinta was ultimately cast as Altaaf’s (Hrithik) love interest.
The contract for the cast’s remuneration was quite precise. Dutt was to be paid Rs 25 lakh if the film broke even, but if it flopped he wouldn’t get a penny. But, if the film was a hit, he would get an additional Rs 25 lakh. In Hrithik’s case, he was hired for Rs 11 lakh if the film broke even, but if it flopped, he would only get Rs 1 lakh. He too was promised a bonus of Rs 10 lakh if the film was a hit. However, these contracts were negotiated midway through the film as Hrithik’s stardom with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai changed his star value, and Vinod also saw the possibility of recuperating big money with Hrithik as one of his leading stars. The scale of the film increased as it now had one of the most popular stars, and with this, budget increased as well.
‘If it fails, my house will be up for sale’
For Vinod, everything was on the line with Mission Kashmir. His last release Kareeb, starring Bobby Deol and newcomer Shabana, was a massive flop and he was in debt of Rs 1 crore. “If this film fails, my house will be put up for sale,” he told Suketu. And like many before him, Vinod put in everything he had for this one. Songs like “Bumbro”, “Rind Posh Maal” were composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy and even before starting the shoot, the music rights of the film were sold for Rs 3 crore, and Vinod put it right back in the film. “I have actually spent Rs 1 crore-plus each on Bumbro, Rind posh maal and Jheelon ka shahar. The sets are enormous,” he told Kanchana Suggu in a chat with utmost pride. He also spent money on insurance of the crew members since they were actually going to shoot in Kashmir. “Each and every member of the crew signed documents before going. Each and every member of the crew! I paid a lot of money for insurance. Except for the main stars, everybody was insured,” he shared in the same chat.
‘Cops in Kashmir shooed Hrithik Roshan away’
Despite all of this, casting Hrithik was a huge bet, and some of Vinod’s crew members were not convinced with him as they actually asked, “Is this the hero?” In an earlier chat with Lehren Retro, Vinod recalled that when they were shooting in Kashmir before Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’s release, cops actually shooed away Hrithik from the set on two occasions because it didn’t look like he belonged with a film set. “When we were shooting in Kashmir, the cops shooed Hrithik away twice with a stick. They were saying, ‘Get back,’ and he was yelling, ‘Sir…’ I had to say, ‘Let him come in’,” he recalled with a laugh and added that his bodyguard asked him in a disapproving tone, “Is this the hero?” Chopra said when he initially signed Hrithik, he was asked, “What kind of people is he making films with?”
But, things changed dramatically as soon as Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai released. ‘Hrithik-mania’ had just started and Vinod was now under pressure to deliver. Vinod tried hard to not waver from his initial plan (where Hrithik’s Altaf was just a character in the film), to the newfound pressure (where Hrithik had to be presented as a star in the film.) Such was the euphoria around Hrithik that there was lathi charge in Raipur when the film’s advance booking opened in the city. Vinod acted like he wanted to distance himself from the stardom of Hrithik Roshan, which was obviously going to benefit his film, but, at the same time, reap in the rewards that came with it. “If Hrithik Roshan is famous, what has that got to do with Mission Kashmir?” he wondered in chat with Rediff where he proudly declared that Hrithik’s Altaaf entered the film after 43 minutes. “He doesn’t come in reel one and start doing his jig. He has done nothing in the film that will make you feel he is Hrithik Roshan,” he said and added, “I had signed him (Hrithik) much before the success of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai.”
Film’s success led to double paymnet for the crew
In fact, as per a report by Komal Nahta from 2000, the film was sold at a “whopping price” in various territories, thanks to Hrithik’s stardom but Vinod was certain that he couldn’t be dishonest with his film, and couldn’t add unrelated fluff to his film, just to please the fans. “I had faith in my subject, so I didn’t think it was proper to increase the length of Hrithik’s role or give him some unrelated scenes to do,” he told Komal. To his belief, the film opened better than its competitor Mohabbatein, but the SRK-starrer turned out to be a much bigger hit in terms of its lifetime collection. As per Bollywood Hungama, the film made around Rs 37 crore worldwide, and Mohabbatein made around Rs 77 crore globally.
To please the fans, and give them a glimpse of what they wanted Vinod shot an extravagant video of the song ‘Bumbro’. The song was initially supposed to be in the background, but, as per Shankar’s admission, this was now a full fledged music video. Upon watching the film, it is also obvious that perhaps the decision to have Hrithik dancing in the video of ‘Rind Posh Maal’ was also taken after Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’ssuccess.
Even though Mission Kashmir made lesser money in comparison to to Mohabbatein, it was still the biggest success of Vinod’s career until then. Atul Tiwari, who wrote the dialogues of the film, later told Patriot that Vinod “doubled the payment for the entire cast and crew” after the film achieved “remarkable success.”
25 years later, Mission Kashmir isn’t exactly politically correct. In fact, it has the kind of flaws that would drive away the woke audience, and it would also upset the censor board. But, for a brief moment in time, Mission Kashmir was a crowd-pleaser.