Superstar Sridevi was already a top star during the 1980s and 1990s, her beauty and grace onscreen had made her queen of audience’s heart and every film maker wanted to work with her.
It was during this phase of her career that she met film producer Boney Kapoor for the first time. The two eventually got married a few years later but at the time, Boney was married to Mona Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Anshula Kapoor’s late mother. During a recent appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show, Boney recalled the time when he met Shridevi for the first time. He revealed they met to discuss the remuneration for a film when Sridevi directed him towards her mother to finalise her fee for the film.
Boney recalled that he flew to Chennai to meet Sridevi’s mother. The mother, however, wasn’t fluent in Hindi or English but Boney said that his “communication skills were so perfect that he used to understand what she was trying to say.” When they started talking about finances, Sridevi’s mother quoted her fee as Rs 10 lakh. The Wanted producer recalled that he had done some research and knew that the last film Sridevi had signed was for Rs 8.5 lakh and he was ready to pay Rs 9 lakh.
“When she said Rs 10 lakh, I said no. Then she froze for 10 seconds. I said I’ll pay 11. Then she froze for another 15 seconds,” he remembered. He added, “I put a condition that the next film you sign, cannot be less than 15. Her mother said, ‘Ayyo ayyo, who will pay 15?’ I said I will get you 15. So when Yash Chopra wanted to cast her for Chandni, I made sure she got 15. They were very happy with that.”
The No Entry producer then recalled that when he went to Sridevi’s mother to sign her for another film, her mother quoted Rs 14 lakh. “I said why? She said, ‘No no Boney ji with you only 14. I said no, I will pay 16. Then I said one condition, next picture 25. She said Boney ji 25, who will give? I said no, you will get 25. For Khuda Gawah, Sri got Rs 25 lakh.”
He added that the reason he added the condition while remunerating her was only because he did not want the Sadma actor to work in lesser films.
