During a recent appearance in an interview, veteran producer Boney Kapoor shared his candid views on celebrity appearances at sporting events. He reminisced about his own efforts to merge films and sports promotions, recalling how he had Anil Kapoor attend a cricket toss in Sharjah for the film Mr. India (1987), which was hailed as an unprecedented move at the time. Kapoor contrasted those promotional efforts with today’s celebrity culture, stating that many actors attend major sporting events like Wimbledon primarily for “photo ops.” Interestingly, Kapoor’s comments come across as a playful jibe at daughter Janhvi Kapoor who had made an appearance at Wimbledon 2025 with rumoured beau Shikhar Pahariya.Let’s take a closer look at what Boney Kapoor said in the interview and how he drew a parallel with Mr. India.
Boney Kapoor on Mr. India and cricket
Appearing on the Game Changers YouTube channel, Boney Kapoor shared his experience as one of the early figures to merge sports with film promotions. He noted, “Mr. India was probably the first time that an actor, in this case Anil Kapoor, went down to do the toss at the Sharjah cricket stadium dressed up like his character.”Kapoor recalled, “He [Anil Kapoor] even sat at the commentator’s box doing commentary with Sunil Gavaskar. That toss was still a few months before the film’s release. Just before it came out, the West Indies were coming to India for a series. I got a helicopter and had Anil land in the middle of the ground to do the toss as Mr India. We even had merchandise, such as Mr India erasers and pencils.”
Boney Kapoor’s criticism of celebrity attendance at Wimbledon 2025
Speaking about the modern culture of celebrities at such high-profile sporting events, Boney said, “Now actors will go and sit at Wimbledon just for photo ops. Ninety per cent of those people don’t know what tennis is all about, but because their picture is being clicked at such a prestigious event, they go. We were cricket buffs; that’s why we went to those places and did promotions.”
Janhvi Kapoor’s Wimbledon 2025 visit and viral photos
Last July, Janhvi went to Wimbledon with her rumored beau, Shikhar Pahariya. They were snapped enjoying the lively atmosphere at the famous All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Although they took photos separately, fan clubs shared pictures of them together, which went viral. Earlier in 2024, the actress had also attended cricket matches to promote her movie ‘Mr and Mrs Mahi’, where she played an aspiring cricketer with Rajkummar Rao.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source timesofindia.indiatimes.com ’
