Director Anil Sharma with Sunny Deol and son-actor Utkarsh Sharma during the shoot of Gadar in Lucknow
The film starred actors Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, Amrish Puri in leading roles and released alongside Aamir Khan’s Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India on June 15, 2001.
On the biggest clash on the day of release he says, “Today we discuss competing against Lagaan, par koi competition nahi tha! In those days two-three big movies used to release together and work as well. The audience used to watch one show of this and another of that back-to-back. Woh marketing nahi, woh dil ka daur tha.”
Sharma adds, “People ask me if there was a choice of cast but there were no two choices be it Sunny Deol, Amrish Puri or others.”
And is Gadar 3 in the making? “After Utkarsh (Sharma, son-actor) grew up, people started saying Jeete ka kahani laao. But for me, if the Gadar story was a bomb, I would only make Gadar 2 if I get an atom bomb story and it made history. Now, if I get a nuclear bomb story then only I will make it. We are working on the script and God-willing if all goes on track we will start Gadar 3 next year!” he reveals.
On shooting in Lucknow, where the iconic handpump scene was shot at La Martiniere College and the Pakistan portion was shot, the filmmaker says, “The city an important role in the film and now it’s play another role in city’s tourism. Autowallah, guides and rickshaw-pullers take tourists to spots where the film was shot and have iconic spots. People keep telling me stories. We shot Gadar 2 in Lucknow and whenever third one happens we will surely shoot there. Gadar without Lucknow is not possible!”
He has started shooting for Arjun Naga but has not made an official announcement yet.
