Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma: We were not trying to bash Pakistan or any other community

Creating a mass entertainer that is an amalgamation of real and fiction is a daunting task, says Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma as the film inches closer to Rs 500 crore mark at the box office.

Gadar 2 is a sequel to Anil’s 2001 blockbuster Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. It features Sunny Deol as his iconic character Tara Singh along with Ameesha Patel as Sakeena and Utkarsh Sharma as their son Charanjeet Singh.

The movie, which released on August 11, is still running in theatres and has earned Rs 493.37 crore till now, emerging as one of the biggest box office success after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is not easy make a mass entertainer. It is difficult because you have to show this larger-than-life hero in a way that whatever he does seems real yet entertaining. While making a realistic movie you can talk to the person and others on whom the story is based, but to add heroism in a film is challenging," Sharma told PTI in an interview.

Referring to the popular handpump scene from Gadar, the filmmaker said it is hard to create a situation which makes the hero's actions believable.

"The key is to make things convincing, which is a challenge in terms of writing and shooting,” he added.

Set in 1971, Gadar 2 follows Tara Singh's journey to Pakistan to rescue his son, Charanjeet Singh from the Pakistani Army.

A section of the audience has called out the film for its "anti-Pakistan" tone, but according to Anil he was not trying to target Pakistan or any community.

“In the film, we have rather said, 'Hindustan Musalmano ka hai', then how come we are bashing them? We have rather shown that the country belongs to everyone irrespective of one's religion,” he added.

The film also features Manish Wadhwa and Gaurav Chopra.