The saleable factor about Pukar is that this could well be Madhuri Dixit's last big budget film. A lavish venture directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, Pukar is produced by Boney Kapoor. The producer must already be a worried man, given that he still gets nightmares over another mammoth film he made sometime ago, the Anil-Sridevi starrer, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, that sank at the box office despite lavish production value.
Pukar is a spy thriller that has Santoshi's magic touch, with attention to minute details. He believes in a big canvas and Pukar is no exception. The cost of the film is estimated at more than 10 crores. The rushes of the film have excited the trade. A good collection will act as a big morale booster for the industry, which had a disappointing 1999. This will be the biggest film to hit the screen in February. Publicity of Pukar is likely to hinge on Mrs Nene's last bow.
A R Rehman's music is his usual brand of techno-fusion sounds. Madhuri justifies her superstar status primarily in the dance sequences. Glamour and oomph, a perfect figure and a glowing, 500-watt smile, Madhuri has them all. Whether in long, flowing costumes or short dresses, she moves with consummate ease.
The fetching camerwork captures Madhuri at her best. Que sera sera, the dance number featuring her with Prabhu Deva, is a treat for the eyes — she matches the boneless wonder step for step.
In terms of role, Madhuri has chosen to take on a role with grey shades in Pukar at the fag end of her career.
Anil Kapoor is a perfect foil to Bollywood's queen bee. Anil's capacity for restrained performances has enabled him to make his presence felt even in films like Biwi No. 1, Taal and Mann, where the limelight was not primarily on him. Namrata Shirodkar is already shaping up into a fine actress, post Vaastav. Watch her exude some subtle sensuality in the steamy number, Sunta hai mera khuda.

Sridevi, Madhuri promote Pukar together

The promotion for Pukar has begun in right earnest. The first leg took off on January 16, with Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, director Rajkumar Santoshi, producer Boney Kapoor and wife Sridevi holding a press conference in Indore. The world may have been denied an opportunity of seeing Sridevi and Madhuri together on the silver screen, but the press in several cities of the country will now witness the coming together of these two actresses, what with more promotional tours of Pukar lined up. It might be mentioned here that been pitted against each other in Time Machine, which was being directed by Shekhar Kapur.

Anil's Pukar From Bulundi

One hero who is getting all the good roles even after fifteen years of his career is Anil Kapoor. It is not really necessary to do roles of a typical good-looking hero who sings dance and fights and does a few scenes in between all of the above. Anil has done all of it but he has done more. He has done unconventional roles right from the beginning of his career. He has given his 100% to every role he did. He did justice to whatever role he played. Some may say that playing the lead character is the only thing an actor should do but Anil is a game for anything challenging. Be it side roles like in 'Biwi No.1' and 'Taal' or roles where he is sandwiched between two female performers like 'Judaai' and 'Gharwali Baharwali'.

His two films 'Pukar' and 'Bulundi' shall be released in January. He is very hopeful that his home poduction 'Pukar' would do well. He thinks that it is Raj Kumar Santoshi's and Madhuri's best work to date. It might be an exaggeration but promos of the film are quite promising. Namrata Shirodkar is looking ravishing. The film definitely will be able to attract good initials. Let us hope that the new Millenium begins with the joys of a successful film for Anil.

Anil Kapoor still optimistic..

After the medium (? what stupid reporter!) success of Hum Aapke Dil Main Rehte Hai, Anil Kapoor is once again optimistic and is looking forward to his future releases about which he is talking highly these days. Four of his shortly-to-be-released movies are Raj Kumar Santoshi's Pukar, in which he plays an Army Major with leading ladies Madhuri Dixit and Namrata Shirodhkar, T. Rama Rao's hardcore commercial film Bulundi where Anil Kapoor has a double role, Subhash Ghai's Taal with beautiful Aishwarya Rai and David Dhawan's next in the no.1 series, Biwi No.1 in which he plays a true-blue Delhi Punjabi with co-stars Salman Khan, Karishma Kapoor, Tabu and Sushmita Sen. Good luck Anil!

Anil Kapoor on Pukar:

"Madhuri's marriage will help my film. Before the release of Bobby, Dimple got married and aroused tremendous curiosity

Pukar is a step into the unknown for Boney and myself. We haven’t tried a film like Pukar before. Its ambience and presentation are very different from our previous films. Raj (Santoshi) thinks it’s his best work to date. And that’s quite a strong statement coming from a director who’s made films like Ghayal and Damini.

"The story behind Pukar is quite amusing. At one point, Raj had approached me for a film entitled Prithviraj Chauhan. I just laughed. "Are you mad? Do I look like a historical character from any angle? Madhuri might make a great Samyukta but I will never look like another Prithivraj Chauhan. The film will be a fiasco!" I warned him up-front.

Raj was on a Madhuri Dixit trip at that time. In fact, after his tiff with Meenakshi (Sheshadri), he had approached Madhuri to replace her in Damini. But later he and Meenakshi patched up and he promised Madhuri he would work with her on some other film in the future.

"Since then he was on the lookout for a good script to cast her. I was also keen to do a film with her. We had done Tezaab and Beta together, both blockbusters. We needed a script that would give equal scope to both of us to perform.

"That was when Raj came up with Pukar. The script was only 60 per cent complete but I could see its potential. It was about an army officer, his wife, his loves. It was a brilliant script but what interested me most was that it had an element of intense romance, unlike Raj’s earlier films. In his previous films the powerful emotional drama had always been the focus of the film. This story was different, yet very powerful. As far as I was concerned, it was a film worth making.

"But I was not so certain that Boney would react the same way as I did. I felt he wouldn’t like it because it lacked the kind of flamboyance he goes for. But surprisingly, Boney fell for it. And Pukar began to take shape.

"It took a little longer to complete than we would have liked, but there were very valid reasons for that. It’s a big film, and moreover, an ‘outdoor film’ shot on different locations, some of which were not easily accessible. The portions involving a fighter aircraft were shot in Alaska because it was too cumbersome getting permission for such shoots in India. After shooting we realised that the aircraft we had used didn’t look authentic enough. So we went back, painted the aircraft to match our requirements and reshot the crucial portions. 

"The delay was also because Raj was involved with China Gate and we were involved with Judaai and Sirf Tum. But whenever we were free we kept shooting. Both Madhuri and I believed in the film. And we saw to it that there were no problems as far as our dates were concerned. "The effort and the trouble were worth it. Pukar is perhaps the finest film made here in recent years, if I may say so myself."

"We had liked Shekhar’s work in Masoom immensely. Boney said let’s make a film with him. The Salim-Javed team had been split by then. Mr India was to carry their joint name for the last time. The film had originally been written for Amitabh Bachchan with his voice in mind. And there was some scepticism about my pulling off the role. I took it as a challenge. And the rest, as they say, is history!