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Boney Kapoor’s much-awaited film Maidaan (2024), starring Ajay Devgn, was finally released after years of delay due to Covid-19. Despite getting unanimous acclaim, it failed to work at the box office. Boney Kapoor, in an interview to Komal Nahta, said that he has paid money to all the vendors, though he suffered a huge loss.
Boney Kapoor ADMITS, “Maidaan’s original budget was Rs. 120 cr; went up to Rs. 210 cr due to Covid delays”; reveals he has paid money back to every vendor, “Some cut down cost by 10%; they would tell me, ‘Pados ke office ki film super-hit hui hai. Uske paise aaj tak nahin mile hai’”
Boney said, “If the film didn’t work, how are the vendors to blame? They patiently waited. For instance, a vendor charged Rs. 100 for his services. I paid him Rs. 60 while the film was in production. I owed him Rs. 40. For those Rs. 40, he waited for 4 years. Will it be fair after I tell such vendors after all these years, ‘My film has flopped and hence, I can’t pay’? I borrowed money to pay them.”
He continued, “A few of them met me with their father. This is because their father had also worked with me earlier. They got mithai ka dabba aur woh mujhe aashirwad deke gaye hai. Then there were some who voluntarily cut down on 10-15% of the amount that I owed them. They would tell me, ‘Pados ke office ki film super-hit hui hai. Uske paise aaj tak nahin mile hai’, ‘yeh producer ke itne paise balance hai’. I would tell them, ‘Mujhe kuch nahin sunna hai. What I owe you (I’ll pay you)’.”
Boney Kapoor further stated, “This has happened even before the release of No Entry. If I assure someone that they’ll be paid in a month and before he would call me, I would phone him and tell him, ‘Yaar, 15 din aur late ho jaayenge’. Also, I never changed my number. Isse yeh hota hai ki jisko paise lene hai, uska hausla rehta hai. Iske liye himmat chahiye. I could look into the eyes of every person I owe money because I know I’ll pay him back. I believe this goodwill has kept me relevant even today (smiles).”
Boney Kapoor then opened up on the difficulties he faced in making Maidaan, “I suffered losses as the film was stranded for 4-4 ½ years because of Covid. 70% of the shoot was completed in January 2020. We were all set to shoot the matches from March 22. 250 actors playing foreign team players had arrived in Mumbai. Who had imagined that it would go on for so long? I kept the unit here until the last flight of the actors' origin country. This happened many times. Moreover, my set got washed out during the cyclone.”
Boney was asked about the rising cost and he confessed, “The original budget was Rs. 120 crores. But due to delays and Covid, the cost went up to Rs. 210 crores.”
He also said, “We had a unit of 600-800 people during the shoot of the matches. Because of Covid, there were restrictions. I used to order food from Taj Flight Kitchens. There were 4 ambulances. No one was allowed to eat together. They were given food packets and if they needed a refill of the meal, tents were set up for it. We didn’t give them local water. We signed a deal with a particular brand to supply water. Uska accha khaasa bill tha. We had to give the foreign actors the assurance that the water is safe for them to consume. All this added to the cost, more so when you did it over a period of 3 years.”
He revealed, “During the shoot of match scenes, there were hardly any foreigners in Mumbai. Even if we had to do multiplication during VFX, we needed 1000-2000 junior artists to show a crowd of 40,000 people. Hence, we had to fly to Bangkok for those sequences. For the stadium exterior, we shot outside different universities in Bangkok.”
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