Anil Sharma’s action film Gadar 2, starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel, has earned ₹135 crore at the box office during the opening weekend. To celebrate the milestone, a success press meet was held in Mumbai on Monday. Here is the top reveals about Gadar 2 from the success meet, in which Sunny, Anil, and Zee Studios CEO Shariq Patel participated among others.

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Director Anil Sharma explained why it took almost two decades to greenlight a sequel to Gadar 2. He said that a solid reason was needed for Sunny’s character Tara Singh to visit Pakistan again. “What was Gadar? The first Gadar was Ramayana. Rama ji goes to Lanka to bring back Sita. I thought this is Ramayana, this won’t flop because it resides in the people’s hearts. The story of the second was Mahabharata: what if when Abhimanyu is stuck in the Chakravyuh, Arjun himself comes to rescue him? No one could’ve failed that story because it resides in the people’s hearts as well.”

There’s nothing called the masses

Sunny said that Gadar 2 is resonating with everyone alike. “They say it’s working for the masses. Who are the masses? There’s only one public and it remains the same for every film. Don’t lower the film by calling it a film for the masses,” Sunny said at the success meet.

Gadar 2 is celebratory, not cerebral

Shariq responded to the criticism of Gadar 2 that it’s a ‘90s-style film. “We’re stuck between Bandra and Andheri. All of us are set on making films for our kind of people. As a studio, we’re going to Cannes with Kennedy (Anurag Kashyap’s film), going to Rotterdam with Joram (Devashish Makhija’s film), but it’s also important to make films like Gadar 2.

We got very cerebral, not celebratory. Yes, of course, there should be cerebral cinema, but not all of them. When you’re watching cerebral film, wear the cerebral hat. But when you’re watching the celebratory film, don’t wear the cerebral hat. We’re committed to making such a rooted film every year, that appeals to the Bikaner audience,” said Shariq. He added that Zee Studios is also releasing another old-school entertainer with Sunny Deol next year, titled Baap.

Sunny on the handpump scene

The scene involving Sunny Deol and his weapon of choice from Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, a handpump, is again being celebrated as the best scene of Gadar 2. But Sunny revealed at the success meet that he wasn’t initially sure of the same. “I’m a little hesitant of repeating what I’ve already done. But Anil and others insisted that the way they would shoot that scene would be very new. I’m glad it’s working for everyone,” Sunny said.

Script of Apne 2 ready

Sunny also confirmed that he’s working on the sequel of yet another blockbuster starring him. “The script of Apne 2 is ready. We’ll soon be working on it. It’s also the story of a family, like the first one. Just that my heroines were hesitant to play moms on screen. I think they’ll be willing now (laughs),” said Sunny.

It seems like he referred to Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif, who starred in Anil Sharma’s 2007 family drama Apne, which also starred Sunny, his father Dharmendra, brother Bobby Deol, and Kirron Kher.

Sunny reveals his fitness secret

When Sunny was asked the secret behind his fitness, Sunny attributed to his family’s genes. “Didn’t you see my father’s latest film? He had quite a nice romantic scene there,” Sunny said cheekily, referring to his 87-year-old father Dharmendra’s kissing scene with Shabana Azmi in Karan Johar’s romantic comedy Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.