Work in pause mode: a triple whammy for Boney Kapoor!

Three of his films, including Maidaan, a Tamil and Telugu project each, are stuck due to lockdown. Boney Kapoor says he hopes to complete them as soon as shoots restart.

It’s not really a secret that the lockdown has dealt a major blow to filmmakers, and showbiz in general. Boney Kapoor, too, is no different. In fact, the producer has three films that are stuck in various stages of production – Ajay Devgn-starrer Maidaan, a Telugu film titled Vakeel Saab featuring Pawan Kalyan [the remake of Pink] and Ajith-starrer Tamil actioner, Valimai.

Besides Maidaan, Boney Kapoor is busy with the Telugu remake of Pink titled Vakeel Saab, and a Tamil venture, Valimai starring Ajith.

While Vakeel Saab is 10-15 shoot days away from completion, Valimai is nearly 50% complete. On the other hand, around a month-long shoot is still left for Maidaan’s completion. In fact, a few days back, Kapoor and his partners took a call to dismantle the massive set of the film spread over 16-acre before “monsoons arrive in Mumbai.” Now, the “massive set” will start to be rebuilt in September, and Kapoor is hopeful that the shoot can commence around November.

“It goes without saying that it has resulted in a massive loss for the team. Thankfully, however, we had already shot all the indoor and also some outdoor portions of the film [in Lucknow and Kolkata]. But now, we will have to wait for the set to come up again to shoot the Olympic games of Helsinki, Rome, Melbourne and Jakarta Asian games,” says Kapoor.

Not just Maidaan, the Wanted maker was cruising along with the shoot of his Telugu film, Vakeel Saab along with Valimai when the shutdown came into force. “In all likelihood, we would have completed the films by now had there been no lockdown. But what can you do in such an extraordinary situation? Now, we hope to finish work on all the films at the earliest, whenever work re-starts. Sometimes, I feel I must be the only producer, who has three big films – from different film industries of the country – stuck at various stages,” says Kapoor.