25 years of Roop Ki Rani,Choron ka Raja | Remembering Chai Mein Chini

On Monday, in the silver jubilee year of his directorial debut, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Satish Kaushik surprised many by candidly admitting on the social media that the film was a disaster at the box-office and apologising to producer Boney Kapoor who went broke after the much-hyped heist-drama which opened on April 16, 1993 . "Over the years, I've come to realise that every failure is a lesson and I'm no longer swept away by success or disappointed by a flop. Maturity lies in owning up to your failures, the actor-director philosophises, pointing out that he will always be grateful to the Bollywood biggies, including Boney, his actor-brother Anil Kapoor, writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, composer Laxmikant- Pyarelal, action director Veeru Devgan, choreographer Saroj Khan and leading lady Sridevi for putting their faith and Rs 9 crore the highest budget for a Hindi film in the '90s in a newcomer who had been an assistant to Shekhar Kapur on Boney's earlier production, the fantasyadventure Mr India.

Satish informs that after Mr India, he'd been offered a small film but was advised by his mentor, Javed Akhtar, to wait for a big break. And Roop Ki Rani... was a dream beginning with everyone working towards helping him translate his vision on screen. The film ended with a James Bond-like train robbery, with the train chugging along, Anil hanging over it from a helicopter and another helicopter hovering closeby to film the sequence. "It needed careful planning and Boney, Veeruji, Baba Azmi (cinematographer), Bijon Das Gupta (art director), Javed saab and I travelled in the maal gaadi for five days to ensure that there would be no hurdles or glitches. Boney even got us walkie talkies for the 19-day schedule in Nhava Sheva so coordination could be perfect, reminisces the then debutant director, admitting that despite all their efforts, Anil hit himself on a rock when hanging from the helicopter but sportingly shrugged off the injury and continued shooting. Satish adds that Boney also had a wagon added to the goods train which served as a pantry and served tea and snacks between shots. The large-hearted producer then had the entire train painted the same colour so it wouldn't disrupt continuity in the long shots.

Another USP was the lavishly mounted song "Dushman Dil Ka Jo Hai Mere which had a knife-wielding Sridevi coming down the mouth of a Sphinx erected on an Egyptian-style set in Mumbai's Film City studio, not looking down even once. Satish recounts that after seeing some portions of the film at a trial, including the song, Amitabh Bachchan tried to replicate her moves on the stairs in his home and admitted to stumbling every time.

Bachchan was equally impressed with Satish's direction and wrote to him saying he was a struggling actor who wished to work with him. "I couldn't sleep for days, I was so touched by his humility, the maker says, confiding that he'd carry a copy of The Illustrated Weekly of India in which Sridevi had listed him for his passion and hard work among the nine people she was most influenced by, among them legends like Yash Chopra and MGR. By the time the film wrapped up, Satish was married and his wife, Shashi, was pregnant. "For me, it was like giving birth to a baby even as another child waited to enter the world. I thought I was the luckiest man till the first houseful premiere. Then, through the next eight premieres, with the film receiving lukewarm reports, people started finding excuses to stay away and at the last one, it was just Boney, Anil and me, he flashbacks, adding quietly that after the film, he also lost his son Kush.

Yet today, Satish can look back at his grand' failure with a smile and assert that irrespective of how it fared, he is still very proud of Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. "The only regret is that the one person who was so special, Sridevi ma'am, is no longer with us, he says.