Anil Kapoor on 30 years of Lamhe: I sacrificed a lot for this film

Actor Anil Kapoor talks to us about his cult film, Lamhe, with the late Sridevi which completed 30 years of it’s release on November 4.

Lamhe easily finds a place among Hindi cinema’s cult films. Recipient of numerous awards, including the National Award for Best Costume Design, it starred Sridevi (in a double role) opposite Anil Kapoor, and the story was deemed to be way ahead of it’s time.

Actor Anil Kapoor starred with the late Sridevi in the romantic drama Lamhe.

Kapoor goes down the memory lane as his film hits the 30 year milestone. “Sometimes, when your intent is honest towards a film, it always pays off. This happened to me in all the films I have done. I sacrificed a lot to fulfil my commitments towards the filmmaker and the script,” he says.

Remembering his co star Sridevi, whose performance was loved by everyone, he continues, “Sri’s father had passed away when we were shooting for it. Yash ji (Chopra, late director) requested me to stay back. I had shooting of two films lined up in Mumbai, especially my personal production Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. I had to postpone that film’s shooting, and cancelled all the dates. We lost a lot of money, and somewhere I feel I sacrificed that film to fulfill this commitment of mine.”

And with one of the lead actors not being present at the shoot due to the emergency, everything was stalled. Chopra felt resuming the shoot in India wouldn’t have been okay since it won’t be able to “match London”. “We stayed there for two weeks without shooting, with a lot of films hanging in India. I said ‘no, this is my commitment’ Yash ji is the one who gave me Mashaal. I said let me do what’s in my hand. What I committed, I had to fulfill,” says the actor, who was expecting his son Harsh Varrdhan at that point with wife Sunita.

While he feels ‘fulfilled’ today to be a part of Lamhe, at that time he confesses he felt ‘bad’. “I thought ‘why did I do this? Why did I stay back? I should have come back’ Now I think I did the right thing by staying back and finishing the film. Main vahaan 20 din ruka tha bina kaam ke. We didn’t stay in hotels, as it was expensive, I stayed in one of Yash ji’s friend’s house. In fact, the entire unit there was staying in each other’s rishtedaar’s house. We saved money, and then Sri came back, so we finished the London schedule. That’s the reason the film looks so good and beautiful, and has withstood the test of time. It has aged well,” he ends.