On June 15, 2001, Gadar opened in theatres. It went on to sell over 10 crore tickets and raked in Rs 150 crore to become one of the biggest grossers of the millennium.
Nine years later, director Anil Sharma admits he has often discussed a sequel to the film with his lead actor, Sunny Deol.
“Commercially, it’s a viable project and would earn us huge money. But unless we can come up with something that would be better than the original, we will not flag off Gadar 2. Why kill a milestone that 50 years from now, will keep the memory of Anil Sharma alive?” reasons the filmmaker.
Quiz him on a memorable moment from the film and he picks out a 30-second shot in the climax. It required Deol and Amisha Patel to jump from one train bogey to the next, a six-year-old boy clinging on to Deol for dear life, as the Pakistani army, lead by Amrish Puri, fires at them.
“That little boy was Utkarsh, my son, and as the train chugged along at 40 kms per hour, a chopper carrying the camera flying alongside, and setting up gale, my heart was in my mouth. I wondered what would happen if Sunny missed a step. Had my wife been on the sets, she would have fainted,” Sharma recalls.
{{/usCountry}}“That little boy was Utkarsh, my son, and as the train chugged along at 40 kms per hour, a chopper carrying the camera flying alongside, and setting up gale, my heart was in my mouth. I wondered what would happen if Sunny missed a step. Had my wife been on the sets, she would have fainted,” Sharma recalls.
{{/usCountry}}Fortunately, the life-threatening shot went off smoothly. And Utkarsh, now 15, laughs when he watches the shot. Sharma agrees that his son will eventually enter the film industry and probably become an actor.
Will he figure in Gadar 2? “Give me a story first,” laughs Sharma, who has just returned from a script-writing session in Khandala and is juggling a couple of scripts. “There’s a love story, an action thriller and even a comic caper, let’s see which one works out first.”