Historic Revolt

After adjusting box-office figures for inflation,Gadar 8211; Ek Prem Katha,at an estimated Rs 2000 crore,is Hindi cinemas biggest-ever grosser. On the completion of ten years of the film,director Anil Sharma crows,Those were the days when the best theatres had their costliest tickets priced at Rs 25. The film did Rs 267 crore nett business a decade ago! My film has joined the select ranks of Mother India,Mughal-E-Azam and Sholay in an industry set to complete a century next year. As a film,its as fresh as it was a decade back. Even today,it is shown twice or thrice a week on television,and even if I do not come to know of it directly,the surge of sms-es and emails on any day,of people discovering my film,of them telling me that they are watching it for the 50th or even 70th time,tells me that my film has been aired again! And I feel once again as if it was only yesterday that we were shooting in Lucknow,Dalhousie or Film City in Mumbai.

Sharma feels that success on this unimaginable scale is because of divine blessings. He recalls,The film is timeless. In Punjab,Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat,there were shows held round-the-clock on public demand. I have been told that 5000 or more villagers would ride into small-towns on trailer tractors and camp there outside the theatres! The management had to oblige them in groups equal to the theatre capacities and so shows were held at 12 midnight, 3 am and at six and nine in the morning. A unique thing happened in Bihar where the people for the next show waited outside the theatre and the audience watching the film inside were refusing to come out because as soon as it ended they wanted to watch it again!

Ten crore tickets have been sold during the worldwide theatrical run of Gadar 8211; Ek Prem Katha,says Sharma. Thats more than for films like Titanic! Gadar was a stupendous success overseas. An interesting case was in Amsterdam where Pasha,a Pakistani exhibitor,owned a theatre that ran only two single shows on Friday and Saturday for Hindi films. But he had to run Gadar daily for three weeks!

Dismissing the mischievous campaigns by vested interests against the film,Sharma says that the effort to give the film a communal colour failed miserably. Manoj Desai,who runs Maratha Mandir in a Muslim-dominated area in Mumbai,was witness to an incident on the first days first show when we both went to gauge audience reaction. When Sunny delivers his famous lines on how India has more Muslims than Pakistan and how they all salute the Tricolor with Hindustan Zindabad! the crowd went mad and the entire auditorium reverberated to Hindustan Zindabad! with many people even standing on the seats!

Sharma even remembers how almost 4,00,000 locals turned up at the Amritsar Railway Station in response to an advertisement for crowds for the sequence of the train coming in from Pakistan. We had stated that anyone who wears kurta-pyjama will be in the frame and the stock of these garments in the towns shops got exhausted! One old Sikh gentleman was banging his head on the platform and howling. When I told him,Papaji,the shot is over! he looked up with tears in his eyes. It was 50 years ago when I was about 10 and I have witnessed the very same scene in real life! he said. A real train full of corpses had arrived and it was as if everything was happening again.

Authentic saga

Gadar 8211; Ek Prem Katha was amazingly authentic in its detailing,like costumes,make-up and sets. We took care to reproduce that era, says Sharma. Even the music and songs needed that authenticity and faithfulness to 1947. We were also very particular about the languages used by the characters.

The springboard for the film,recalls Sharma,was a sub-plot for a magnum opus named Kashmir that Sharma was planning on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. 80 per cent of the script was ready,and Dilip Kumar was very excited about his character. Dharamji Dharmendra was also to be in the cast. I wanted a sub-plot about a love story between a Pandit boy and a Pakistani girl. My writer Shaktimaan told me about the real-life love story of Buta Singh,but though that story was passive,the concept made me restless,a sure sign that something had touched my soul. The next day,to my writers consternation,I told him that we were scrapping Kashmir. I had always dreamt of making a film on Partition in which far more people died and were rendered homeless as compared to the Hiroshima holocaust and I decided to set the story of Indias epic Ramayan in that era. In Ramayan,Ravan,the king of Lanka,abducts Sita deceitfully,and Ram goes to Lanka to get her back. In my film,Rams son would tell his father to get back his mother. After the Kargil conflict,what better Lanka would I find than Pakistan? And thats the reason why,at interval point,Amrish Puri uses a ruse to take Sakina to Pakistan! Gadar was a modern depiction of Ramayan,a story that is deeply embedded in every Indian. The film had to be a hit.

The epic creation

Writer Shaktimaan aka Jagdeep Raj Talwar gives another take. My parents as well as in-laws have been migrants during the trauma of Pakistan. Gadar dil se likhi gayi hai as they have all told me so much about those times. Classic complete films are written as per the needs of the plot and so the sequences arise naturally. We cannot be tied down by length. At 178 minutes running time,Gadars interval point came almost at 115 minutes,but no one found a loose moment. Today,there are 115 minute films that cannot hold the audience!

Shaktimaan says that Tara Singh,Sunny Deols character,was created by blending several people,in particular a Jat truck-driver friend who shaved his beard and wore a turban at whim. All truck drivers there have a cleaner,who is like a Hanuman to their Ram,and such a character was created for Vivek Shauq in Darmiyaan Singh.

About the fiery lines in the film,the writer reveals that none of the dialogues were written to play to the gallery. The lines flowed out of the situations 8211; natural expressions of the emotions within the characters hearts. Naturally such lines connect instantly with the audience,like Sunnys line on being refused his visa,Ek kagaz pe mohur nahin lagegi to kya Tara Singh Pakistan nahin jayega? I do not believe in adding mirch-masala to my lines.

The only choices

Both Sharma and Shaktimaan had no choices for the roles of Tara Singh and Ashraf Ali. Sunny and Amrishji were the first and only choices! is what both echo. The rest of the principal cast was new,including Amisha Patelwho was shooting for her debut film Kaho Naa8230;Pyaar Hai when I screen-tested herand Vivek Shauq, says Sharma. Adds Shaktimaan,Such was the force of Amrishjis performance that woh akele hi Pakistan hain aise lagta tha!

Says actor Sunny Deol,When Anil narrated the subject I found it very endearing but was apprehensive about whether the film would be authentic in terms of its detailing. We set out to make a good film like anyone else and made a great one! I interpreted it as a romantic film,almost like Cinderella in its story. The action sequences in the climax and the larger-than-life aura had to be there as cinema has to have that quality at the end of the day.

The actor is however still hurt by the inhibited marketing of the film,a grievance Sharma shares as he says,Zee approached me because they wanted to make a film with me and I narrated the idea,which they loved. Did you know that Gadar was one of the earliest,if not the first,to be made in corporate fashion? Even the spotboy was paid by cheque. Deol recalls how the film was branded as anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistani. Even Amrishjis character was not a villain but a father who had certain set beliefs. He adds ruefully,I guess no one could digest our success. Many made fun of the film. But the box-office was another story!

Singer Udit Narayan recalls how he insisted on singing all the songs after being called for the recording of the first song,Udd jaa kaale kaawa. I was ready to sign a stamped agreement that I would sing all songs free of cost! Uttam Singhji and Anand Bakshiji created such moving tunes like Main nikla gaddi lekar,Musafir jaanewale and Hum juda ho gaye. But the music was not marketed the way it deserved to be. I internalised Sunnys character and strong persona when I sang the songs! Pitches in Sunny,Uttamji and Bakshisaab went with the storys needs. That does not happen now in period films and the music then alienates us.

The missing musketeers

Amrish Puri,Anand Bakshi and Vivek Shauq are three key members who are not around today. Their absence has diluted our joy! declares Sharma. Vivek was the stressbuster on the sets,ready to help everyone,always there to entertain in stressful moments. Sunny states that Amrish treated him like a son,and the chemistry in their sequences would have been impossible without the latters excellence.

Recalls Shaktimaan,I wanted to use a classic folk poem for the film,but we could not work it into the situation. Uttamji sounded off the needs to Bakshisaab and was sure that he would give us something even better. Bakshisaab asked us for two days time and kept his promise. 48 hours later,he called us to present,complete with the basic tune for the mukhda,Main nikla gaddi leke raste mein ek sadak pe / Ek mod aaya,main utthe dil chhod aaya! Bakshisaab was unmatched in translating innermost feelings into easy words of immense depth. And his self-discipline was so strong that no one could match that either.

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