Anil Sharma is basking in a glow of success as Gadar 2 races towards the Rs. 500 crore nett Indian mark. His refrain is thanking the Almighty for everything good that is happening, and reasserting his conviction about making an Indian film from the heart. “Whatever good is created is always actually done by Him!” he looks up and smiles. But when Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel were a given as Tara Singh and Sakina, how did he convince Utkarsh Sharma, his son, to play the parallel lead? Was it only because he played Jeete as a child in Gadar—Ek Prem Katha?
Sharma shakes his head and says, “Though Utkarsh has studied in America, I have deliberately sent him by train to smaller centers in our country, like Meerut, to expose him to the real India. He has interacted with people everywhere and come to know about their lives. We also speak only Hindi at home and observe all the poojas and ceremonies. He was thus an ideal choice as a lot of other actors today are brought up with a Westernized upbringing. These actors would need to act, whereas the Indian earthiness that Utkarsh brought in came naturally to him.”
Terming Utkarsh an ideal son who is very mature, he goes on, “When I told him about this role and the story, he said that it would be an honour to play the adult Jeete too. He said. ‘Papa, I just want the film to do very well for you and for Sunny (Deol) paaji. Both of you deserve that. As for me, I have my whole career ahead of me!’”
Says Sharma, “Never for a moment did Utkarsh presume that the focus would be on him. He always knew that Gadar 2 was a film about Tara Singh, and in that sense, not even about Tara and Jeete. I never tweaked the script to give my son greater footage or importance, for that would have meant doing injustice to the foolproof story, to a sequel that I wanted to do ever since Gadar—Ek Prem Katha was released.”
Wryly, Sharma states that many people, including from close quarters to him, spread the canard that Gadar 2 was being made only to re-launch Utkarsh (after Genius did not do theatrically well). He says, “They said Sunny was there only in an extended cameo! But doesn’t everyone know that Gadar and Sunny are synonymous? We even kept Utkarsh at low-key in the initial promotions.”
He smiles with paternal pride, “I predict that Utkarsh will soon become a big name—he has everything going for him. And I am sure that one day, instead of being known as the son of the director of the Gadar franchise, it is I who will be known as Utkarsh Sharma’s father!”
More Pages: Gadar 2 Box Office Collection , Gadar 2 Movie Review
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