Shashi Kapoor’s Amitabh Bachchan-starrer went ‘wildly overbudget’, carried 650 kg dal to Russia, flew 200 people to Moscow

Shashi Kapoor directed Amitabh Bachchan in Ajooba. (Photo: Express Archives)

Shashi Kapoor, known for his work in films like Deewaar and Kabhi Kabhie, came from the illustrious family of Prithviraj Kapoor and in 1990, Shashi decided to don the director’s hat for the film Ajooba, starring Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role. The film was made on a reported budget of Rs 8 crore but couldn’t recover even half of that, and was termed a massive failure at the box office. In a recent interview, Shashi’s son Kunal Kapoor recalled the making of the film and shared that he actually carried 650 kgs of dal to Russia during the shoot as the Indian crew missed Indian food there.

In a chat with Pooja Bhatt on her podcast, he shared, “When I went up there, I carried 650 kgs of dal. We would take our own food there. Dad took everybody so we had 200 people whom we had taken from here. And all the big part character actors, all flew club class and they stayed the entire duration, even if they had 2 days work, they stayed there for 3 weeks.” He then joked and added, “Then you wonder why the film went over budget.”

Kunal said that the Indian unit found the Russian food “extremely bland and boring” and craved for some Indian style food. “So we took our own kitchen with us, we took everything,” he said.

Amitabh Bachchan in Ajooba. (Photo: Express Archives)

He also recalled that with such a big crew there, who all spent a long time in USSR, they developed many romantic relationships there. “I think in Yalta, everyone had a girlfriend. The Indian unit got a lot of female attention there. Lots of hearts were broken when they left, lot of drama happened,” he recalled.

Ajooba tanked at the box office as many called it a costume drama. The film was co-directed by Gennady Vasilyev, and was shot towards the end of Mikhail Gorbachev’s era, just before the fall of the Soviet Union. The film also starred Dimple Kapadia, Rishi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dara SIngh, Amrish Puri, Saeed Jaffery among others.

Starring Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Sonam, Shammi Kapoor, Dara Singh, Saeed Jaffrey, and Amrish Puri besides Amitabh Bachchan, Ajooba recovered only Rs 3.5 crore of its Rs 8 crore budget. Considered the most expensive film of its time, it failed miserably in India but was a success in the Soviet Union. It was also the last collaboration between the Indian and Soviet Union, and also marked Russian actress Ariadna Shengelaya’s Bollywood debut. Bachchan played a masked superhero in the film and was hoping for a career revival with the Shashi Kapoor magnum opus.