Tara Singh-Sakina’s love story blooms further in Gadar 2

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It was an epic hit in 2001. Gadar—Ek Prem Katha, produced by Zee Entertainment Networks and directed by Anil Sharma from a script by Shaktimaan, remains the film that had the greatest footfalls for any Hindi movie in the 2000-2009 decade. It’s nett Indian collections, adjusted for inflation, would probably cross Rs. 550 crore today, when the highest grosser remains Bahubali 2—The Conclusion (Hindi) in 2017, which crossed Rs. 510 crore.

Anil Sharma, after 22 years, will now release Gadar 2—The Katha Continues, the true sequel to this famous love story between a Sikh and a Muslim set in the Partition era. The now-iconic characters of Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakina (Ameesha Patel) will be seen again in the new film being produced again by Zee Studios, with Anil Sharma at the helm. As Sunny told the media, “The film gives out the message that love has no boundaries and can be our greatest strength.”

Detractors then gave it a anti-Muslim angle but despite that malicious propaganda, the crowds thronged to see the film. As Anil Sharma stated to me in 2011, “My film had an interval after almost two hours, which is now the total run-time for many movies. But people did not want the interval and asked for the rest of the film to start!”

As Shariq Patel of Zee Studios told “Bombay Times”: “We are excited to bring the classic love story of Tara and Sakina back on screen. How their love matured over the next 20 years is something that will warm every fan’s heart.”

The film will release on August 11 and stars Utkarsh Sharma—who played Tara’s and Sakina’s son as a child—as the younger leading man. Utkarsh is Anil Sharma’s son. The original film had lyrics by Anand Bakshi and music by Uttam Singh, with evergreen super-hit songs like Udd ja kaale kaawa and Main nikla gaddi lekar. The new film has lyrics by Sayeed Quadri and music by Mithoon.

Simrat Kaur, Luv Sinha, Manish Wadhwa, Sajjad Delafrooz, Gaurav Chopra and Arjun Dwivedi are among the supporting cast.