'Gadar' director Anil Sharma says Govinda got scared after hearing film's story

Gadar: Ek Prem Katha starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel released 20 years ago on June 15 and is one of the biggest blockbusters of Indian cinema. The movie was set during the Partition of India in 1947 and followed a love story between a Sikh man from India and a Muslim woman from Pakistan.

Throughout the years, there have been several speculations about the movie, the one that stood out was of Govinda and Kajol being the original choices to play lead roles. To clear the air, director Anil Sharma came forward to talk about it. 

Anil Sharma talks about the casting process of Gadar

On the occasion of 20 years of Gadar - Ek Prem Katha, director Anil Sharma told Bollywood Hungama that Govinda was never signed up for the movie. He talked about how he was working with him for Maharaja that was released in 1998. He narrated the story of Gadar to the actor. The director then revealed that it was not that he never considered Govinda for the role but when the actor heard the story, he was taken aback and was scared. The actor wondered how can someone pull off a film of this kind and scale. 

The director added that during that time there was no way of creating Pakistan and no one did it before on such a large scale. So, Sunny Deol was always his first choice. Talking about the female lead of the film, he said that he spoke to various actors and not just Kajol. He revealed that some of them did not like the story, others didn't listen to it and some did not understand the script. He added that they tried to get 4-5 top female actors but when that didn't work out, they looked for another option. After which, they got over 400 entries for the leading lady and they auditioned over 40 actors and finally decided to cast Ameesha Patel. 

A look at Anil Sharma's movies 

Gadar was the first movie where Sunny and Anil worked together. After the success of the movie, the two went ahead and worked in movies like The Hero: Love Story Of A Spy (2003), Apne (2007) and Singh Saab The Great (2013). After so many years, Sunny Deol is reuniting with Anil Sharma in Apne 2, a sequel to Apne. The shoot is expected to start in the next few months. 

IMAGE: Govinda and Anil Sharma's IG