‘Nerkonda Paarvai is an ode to Sri’

As we sit down for a chat, we see the portraits of him and his brother Anil Kapoor receiving National Awards from late former President KR Narayanan for Pukar. Boney has now ventured into the south with Ajith’s Nerkonda Paarvai, a remake of Pink. He doesn’t mince words. “I first met Ajith when he came to Mumbai during English Vinglish. He said we shouldn’t be providing him with accommodation, food and travel expenses. Sridevi and Shalini knew each other for a very long time. We got to know each other more when Ajith had come home for dinner. When Pink released in 2016, Sri liked it. It took me six to eight months to acquire the rights. Ajith too had expressed his desire that Pink should be remade. So, the interest was mutual. Also, Sri always thought that she owed a lot to south Indian cinema and wanted me to take her agenda forward. I came down to Chennai and Ajith put me on to a lot of directors. Then I met H Vinoth and the project took off. It is unfortunate that Sri isn’t around today. But Nerkonda Paarvai is an ode to her,” he begins.

However, for Boney Kapoor’s Bayview Projects LLP to foray into the south with a remake film is a predilection. “The flavour is same as Pink. Vinoth is a brilliant director and he has added some ‘special elements’ that will make the film unique. Also, I have remade Tamil films in Hindi before and they have been successful. South films I have remade in Hindi have always made better business than the original. That way, I believe and hope that Nerkonda Paarvai will do a better business than Pink,” he brims with confidence. There have also been reports that the film’s pre-release business hasn’t been pompous as it was expected to be. But Boney rubbishes the rumours. “Only things that people look forward to or things that are already popular tend to be talked about. I am a producer, who is taking my baby steps in South film industry and I am sure things are going to be fine and I will do many projects here in future,” he says.

The producer confirms to us his second film with Ajith that will be launched in the end of August. “The shoot will begin in September,” he adds and takes us down memory lane of the black and white working stills of Hum Paanch. “The shoot took place in Melkote and I was one among the first producers to identify that place as a shooting spot. We built cottages for the cast and crew and there used to be a telephone line connected to Mandya. We had an in house newspaper as well that was up for display everyday and a dedicated display for film news,” he tells us. There were reports about Janhvi Kapoor making her Tamil debut soon. “She is open to working across languages and will make her decision once she gets a good script in Tamil,” he concludes.