‘Wasn’t sure Sunny Deol wanted to act again’: R Balki opens up about casting him in Chup a year before Gadar 2

Also read – ‘Amitabh Bachchan had an absolutely cold expression on his face’: Balki recalls ’embarrassing’ mistake he made in first narration to Big B

He said, “Sunny Deol was an inspired last-minute casting. This was before Gadar, so nobody was… I didn’t even know if Sunny was ready to act again. And Sunny not shouting in a film… How could you take Sunny Deol and not get him to should in the film? So, I said on the last day, ‘Sunny, you just scream’. He said, ‘What should I scream’. I said, ‘Open the door and just scream bast**d loudly’. He did it, and the whole floor shook. Somebody came running, asking what’s happening. Everybody wanted to see Sunny shouting.”

Balki said that unfortunately, the moment had to be muted for the CBFC, and Sunny was ‘very disappointed’ by this. It was retained in the film’s streaming release, however. Also featuring cameos by Amitabh Bachchan and Pooja Bhatt, Chup made Rs 20 crore at the box office. Balki followed it up with the sports drama Ghoomer, which didn’t fare as well. Sunny, on the other hand, is following up Gadar 2’s success with a period drama titled Lahore 1947, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.