Living in Raj Kapoor's garage as a child due to poverty: Boney drowns in debt of crores after 'Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja' flop; Sridevi divorces his wife

It was not easy for Boney Kapoor, who has made a name for himself as a producer in Bollywood by producing films like 'Mr India' and 'Woh Saat Din'. When Boney Kapoor's father Surinder came to Mumbai, the family had to stay in Raj Kapoor's garage. Gradually, however, things changed. His father managed to establish himself in Hindi cinema but later he suffered from a heart ailment. As a result, Boney Kapoor took charge of the family. Today, on the occasion of Boney Kapoor's 70th birthday, let's take a look at some of the big and important decisions related to his life. When his father was ill, he took care of the house Boney Kapoor's childhood was spent in abject poverty. His father, Surinder Kapoor, was born in Peshawar. Prithviraj Kapoor and Surinder were cousins. Prithviraj came to Mumbai from Peshawar to pursue a career and earned a unique niche for himself through hard work. When Prithviraj himself settled in Bombay, he also called his brother Surinder to Bombay. Surinder Kapoor initially worked as Geeta Bali's personal assistant. He then joined filmmaking. Surinder has three sons, Boney Kapoor (producer), Anil Kapoor (actor) and Sanjay Kapoor (actor). However, Surinder Kapoor later suffered a heart attack. Boney Kapoor took charge of the house to keep them stressed. Speaking to Galata Plus, Boney Kapoor said, "When my grandmother passed away, Anil and I decided that she would act and I would handle the production. Someone has to take care of everything in the house. My father had heart disease. We didn't want to stress him," said Surinder Kapoor, who died on September 24, 2011. Boney Kapoor made his directorial debut in 1980. He produced the film Hum Paanch, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi, Raj Babbar and Naseeruddin Shah. After that, his film 'Woh Saat Din' was a huge success. Through this film, Boney Kapoor launched his younger brother Anil Kapoor in Hindi cinema. The film also starred Padmini Kolhapuri and Naseeruddin Shah in pivotal roles. Apart from this, Boney Kapoor also produced the 1987 science fiction film 'Mr India'. The film was a blockbuster, becoming the second highest-grossing film of the year. 'Mr India' was a cult classic starring Sridevi and Anil Kapoor in the lead roles. Currently, his production film 'Maidaan' has been released. Boney Kapoor and Mona Shourie tied the knot in 1983. Bonnie was 10 years older than his wife, Mona. Both of them were happy in their marriage. They had a son Arjun in 1985 and a daughter Anshula in 1987. Everything was going well in the family. But then, after 13 years of their marriage, suddenly came the news that Boney Kapoor and Sridevi were going to get married. Mona was shocked to know this and realised that her house had collapsed. They divorced in 1996. Even after the divorce, Mona stayed at Bonnie's house for about ten years and then they separated. Boney Kapoor married Sridevi in 1996 after marrying Sridevi the same year they divorced. Sridevi was pregnant at the time. In 1997, Sridevi gave birth to Janhvi Kapoor. Sridevi and Boney Kapoor have two daughters, Janhvi and Khushi. Sridevi's untimely death in 2018 broke Boney Kapoor. Even today he gets emotional remembering Sridevi on many public occasions. In fact, Boney Kapoor and Sridevi's love story may have started with the film 'Mr. India'. However, Boney fell in love with Sridevi in the 1970s, when she was working in Tamil films. He also went to Chennai to meet her but could not meet Sridevi as she was in Singapore. Later, his first Hindi film 'Solva Saal' was released and he decided to work with Sridevi as a producer. One day, when Boney Kapoor went to meet the actress on the sets of the film, Sridevi told him that his mother supervises his work. Boney Kapoor then spoke to Sridevi's mother and offered her a role in 'Miss India', but her mother replied that Sridevi's fee would be Rs 10 lakh. Boney replied that he would give Rs 11 lakh. Sridevi's mother was happy and the actress also agreed to the role. He made special arrangements for Sridevi. However, it is said that Sridevi was having an affair with Mithun Chakraborty at that time. However, later they parted ways and Boney again started building a close relationship with Sridevi. They also reached Switzerland to meet him. When Sridevi's mother fell seriously ill and was undergoing treatment in the US, Boney Kapoor supported her mentally, emotionally and financially. He also paid the bills for his mother's treatment. Sridevi was very impressed with their dedication and said yes to their love proposal. In 1986, the Maharashtra government imposed a heavy tax on film tickets. Seeing this, many industry stalwarts including Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and Randhir Kapoor took to the streets to protest. The strike caused significant losses to the film industry. The shooting of about 200 films was stopped. One and a half lakh workers became unemployed and the studios shut down. The news of this spread abroad. A committee of artists was formed to resolve the situation. As the pressure mounted, the government softened and reduced the tax from Rs 15 crore to Rs 5 crore. The strike ended, but the damage was significant. The industry showed solidarity and held a charity show called 'Hope 86'. The Stars raised funds to help the workers, though not everyone was happy. Some artists suffered more losses than the strike. It is said that this also increased the rift among many stars. In 1987, Sridevi and Anil Kapoor's film 'Mr India' was a huge success. After its immense success, Boney Kapoor planned to make another film with both the actors and started shooting the same year. The film, titled 'Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja', was inspired by the Hollywood film 'The Duchess and the Dirt Water Fox'. At that time, it was a big-budget film, which cost Rs 9 crore. Its release was delayed for six years. However, after its release, it flopped badly. Produced by Boney Kapoor and directed by Shekhar Kapur, the project was abandoned by him midway as he did not like the story. It was later directed by Satish Kaushik. People didn't like his songs or his story. Moreover, its runtime was also long, resulting in a collection of only ₹3 crore at the box office. Due to the failure of the film, Boney Kapoor had a debt of Rs 12 crore. He sold some of his properties. It took him four years to repay the debt. Talking to Komal Nahta, Boney Kapoor said that his wife and family supported him during that difficult time. He also said that no matter how difficult the situation was, people would go after him to collect the money but he never ran away. Bonnie said, "My wife was always with me. She even walked barefoot to the Siddhivinayak temple. My brother also stood with me."