Not Anil Kapoor, this superstar was Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar's first choice for Mr India; but...

The 1987 film Mr. India is a science fiction superhero action movie, considered a turning point in Anil Kapoor’s career. Directed by Shekhar Kapur, the film starred Sridevi and Amrish Puri in lead roles and became one of the biggest hits of the year.

However,  Anil Kapoor was not the first choice for the role. The story was originally written with a superstar in mind. In an interview with Mid-Day, lyricist Javed Akhtar revealed that Amitabh Bachchan was the original choice to play Mr. India. The screenplay was written by the iconic duo Salim-Javed.

Javed shared that director and producer Pramod Chakravorty had begun working on the film with Amitabh in the lead. However, the superstar couldn’t attend the film’s muhurat (inaugural) shot. Instead, his voice was played on a cassette, which sparked the idea of creating a story around an invisible man.

Javed Akhtar explained, “I thought if this voice alone can create such an impact, why not build a character who’s invisible? We wouldn’t need his dates often, and most of the time he could dub his own voice.” However, things changed after Salim and Javed parted ways.

After their split, the script remained with Javed Akhtar, and producer Boney Kapoor bought it to make the film with Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. Akhtar also addressed rumors that Amitabh Bachchan was the reason behind his fallout with Salim Khan.

He clarified that he had chosen not to work with the superstar for about ten years and eventually reunited with him in the 1989 film Main Azaad Hoon.

Mr. India tells the story of Arun Verma, a kind-hearted musician who gains the power of invisibility and uses it to fight the evil international criminal and smuggler, Mogambo. The film went on to become a cult classic.

In 2011, producer Boney Kapoor announced a 3D sequel titled Mr. India 2, but the project was later shelved and no further updates have been shared since.