Film producer Boney Kapoor opened up about the messy production of his upcoming sports drama Maidaan, which started filming over three years ago and was mostly complete by the end of 2019. But unforseen circumstances led to its delay, and Boney said that he was left scrambling to mitigate potential disasters.
In an interview with The New Indian, the producer said that the pandemic and unpredictable weather caused major delays in the film, and that costs ballooned because he had to pay rent on a piece of land that he had leased for only six months initially. Additionally, he also had to deal with crowds of hundreds of people, and revealed that he hasn’t received a satisfactory amount as insurance for all the delays.
Starring Ajay Devgn and directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma, Maidaan tells the story of ‘the golden age of Indian football’. The movie was originally supposed to be released alongside RRR last year, but hasn’t yet received a proper trailer. “Besides Maidaan, there’s not a single penny I owe anyone,” he asserted.
“I never get demoralised. I catch the bull by the horns, and I sleep peacefully. But I’ve been having sleepless nights recently because of Maidaan. But for the first time in my life, I feel the situation is not in my control,” he said, adding that he can’t reveal more details. But he continued anyway. “This is the era of joint ventures, I have partners, I have actors who also have a stake in some revenue; things are not as simple as they used to be earlier… I cannot take any bold steps because a team is dependent on me.”
Asked about the 16-acre piece of land that he’d leased for a football pitch, Boney said, “We went through a lot. We made a full football ground with natural turf. Not artificial turf, because in those days, in the ’50s and ’60s, there was no artificial turf. We erected a couple of stands and used green screens… That set was there for more than three years, and that’s what escalated the budget of the film also. We haven’t overshot, but we had to pay rent for the ground, we had to remunerate the curators, and we had to maintain the ground… We had a crew of almost 500-600 people every day. We had Taj catering the food. We had two or three ambulances on set…”
He said that after a cyclone struck the location, the set had to be reconstructed. “All these calamities and the pandemic, this created a major, major (problem). And unfortunately, insurance is not there… As of now, we’ve got nothing. What they’ve offered is a measly amount of what I’ve spent.” Also starring Priyamani and Gajraj Rao, Maidaan was rescheduled for a June 2023 release, but was delayed once again. A teaser for the film was released six months ago.
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‘No insurance, catering by Taj, natural calamities’: Boney Kapoor says he’s having sleepless nights because of Maidaan’s escalating budget – The Indian Express
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