Last Updated: August 22, 2023, 21:43 IST
Here’s why SLB wanted Ameesha Patel to retire after Gadar 1.
Ameesha Patel was recently seen in Gadar 2 with Sunny Deol.
Ameesha Patel is currently basking in the success of her recently released film Gadar 2. The actress recently revealed in an interview that Sanjay Leela Bhansali had once asked her to retire after Gadar 1 release and also told her that every film of hers after Gadar would be compared to its massive success and the box office numbers.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, she shared, “Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, after watching Gadar, wrote a really beautiful letter, complimentary letter to me. And when I had a meeting with him, he said, ‘Ameesha, you should retire now.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because you’ve already achieved in two films what most people don’t achieve in their entire career. Once in a lifetime, a Mughal-e-Azam, a Mother India, a Pakeezah, a Sholay gets made. You had it in your second film. So what’s next?’ I didn’t understand it at that time because I was a kid, so new to the film world.”
She also stated that Bhansali’s warning turned out to be true. “Gadar set the bar so high that anything in my films that were superhits after that, whether it was Humraaz (2002), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) or Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), it was a straight comparison to Gadar.”
Released on August 11, Gadar 2 stars Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel in the lead. It is an official remake of Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, released in 2001. Gadar 2 is set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pak war. In the sequel, Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakeena (Ameesha Patel) are in a happy marriage, and their son Charan Jeet Singh (played by Utkarsh Sharma, who also essayed the child’s role in 2001’s Gadar) is all grown up now. Their lives are all hunky-dory, but events land Charan Jeet in Pakistan. Tara Singh then returns to Pakistan to save his son.
Speaking about the film’s success, Sunny Deol had earlier told Zoom, “I am indeed very happy. When we did the second part of Gadar, we never knew it would be so loved by the audience. Two whole generations have gone by since we did the first Gadar. And still, people are as excited as they were the first time. I am amazed and very very happy. We need some hits to keep the film industry on its feet.”
