'Humne Pakistan ko bilkul bash nahin kiya hai'

'On Saturday night, I went to the cinema to see my film for the first time as a member of the audience.'
'What I saw left me overwhelmed.'
'So much love!'

Gadar 2 Director Anil Sharma is rhapsodic.

"We expected Gadar 2 to be a hit lekin yeh to gadar se bhi aage gadar ho gaya. Ek Gadar 2001 mein machi thi, abb ek Gadar 2023 mein machi hai. I won't lie, the volume of success has taken us by surprise."

"On Saturday night, I went to the cinema to see my film for the first time as a member of the audience. What I saw left me overwhelmed. So much love! My son Utkarsh got mobbed. I have always been to the movies as an audience. This time, the experience was something else," Anil Sharma tells Subhash K Jha.

He is is overwhelmed by the industry response to his films too.

"Many directors have called. David Dhawan, Rakesh Roshan... called to congratulate me," he says.

How could such a film be made at the cost of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) only?

"We worked really hard," he replies. "The entire team worked really hard. My technical crew, my wife... they gave their best attention to the film. Would you believe, we haven't shot on a single set! Every shot is done on location.

"With thousands of onlookers on location, we shot the scenes. Sometimes there were 3,000 people at 3 am. They had come to see their favourite Sunny Paaji shoot."

It has been a long period of exile for Anil Sharma whose last film was 2018's Genius, where he launched son Utkarsh as a leading man.

Anil Sharma says he hadn't gone anywhere.

"I was only trying to find my bearings in the changing environment of film-making," he says. "Now with Gadar 2, I have discovered that audiences' tastes are still the same. You say I've made a comeback. Mujhe toh laga hi hain ke main kahin chala gaya. Lekin industry ko laga main chalaa gaya. The industry had written me of. I was just taking a break."

Gadar 2 proves that Sunny Deol is still the best action hero.

"We made the film with a lot of honesty, no computer graphics in the action sequences," Sharma says.

What about the film being accused of Pakistan-bashing?

"Humne Pakistan ko bilkul bash nahin kiya hai. We've brought the truth to the forefront. The truth is, in 1971, the Mukti Bahini fought a war for the creation of Bangladesh. Thousands of women and children were killed. We have shown many Pakistanis as sympathetic in the story."

"What can I do about people with their own mindsets and agendas?"