Starring Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, and Sridevi, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja flopped at the box office. It was Bollywood’s most expensive film at the time of its release in 1993. The film marked directorial debut of Satish Kaushik, who contemplated suicide after its box office failure.
After the blockbuster success of Mr. India in 1987, the producer Boney Kapoor wanted to repeat the successful pairing of his brother Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and director Shekhar Kapur. He announced Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja in 1988, and added another superstar Jackie Shroff into the mix. What started as the most anticipated film, eventually turned out to be the one of the biggest flops in Bollywood.
The film saw several delays in making, which infuriated Shekhar Kapur so much that he left the project midway. Late actor Satish Kaushik, who had assisted Kapur on Mr. India and Masoom, replaced him and marked his debut as the director. Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja was finally released after many delays in 1993 and it’s budget had amounted to Rs 10 crore, when the average cost of the film was around Rs 2-3 crore. It became the highest-budgeted Hindi film at the time of its release.
With Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Jackie Shroff as the leading cast members and Anupam Kher as the antagonist, the film had set huge expectations but its predictable storyline threw people off, and they completely rejected the film. Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja could only earn Rs 3 crore in its lifetime collections, and turned out to be a massive commercial failure.
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Satish Kaushik passed away on March 9, 2023, and when several of his film colleagues and friends gathered to celebrate his birth anniversary last year on April 13, Shabana Azmi revealed that he had contemplated suicide after his directorial debut flopped at the box office. She said that the late actor-director had become a ‘dukhi aatma’ (sad soul) after Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja released and wanted to end his life. “He was on the first floor and when he looked down from there, because he was finding ways to commit suicide, there was a party going on. He saw potatoes and brinjals being fried. So, he was like, ‘yaar main aloo baingan ke beech mein agar kood ke marr jaunga toh yeh kharab death hogi (If I fall between potatoes and brinjals and die, it’ll be a bad death)'”, the actress recalled as she laughed with teary eyes while remembering Kaushik.
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