Expresso Bollywood Feature: How Sunny Deol found his Gadar 2 formula with his debut film Betaab

The actor, who is now 65 years old, has certainly aged in these 40 years but it seems like the syntax of his cinema is frozen in time. Betaab, which also marked the debut of Amrita Singh, was the kind of launchpad that was celebrated back in the day. Now, it would be seen as nepotistic with people associated with it apologising for their privileges but at that time, there was genuine curiosity to see what Dharmendra’s son was made of. The film was also the first independent script by Javed Akhtar, after his split with writer Salim Khan, so naturally there was curiosity on that end as well. RD Burman and Anand Bakshi created some iconic songs for the film and thus, there was enough anticipation around Betaab that the film was an instant hit. It turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year that even had a golden jubilee but looking back now, Betaab seems to be one of those films that hasn’t aged well not because it’s excessively problematic, but because it feels just too dated. One could describe the 2023 release Gadar 2 in the same way but that’s a discussion for another day.

Betaab has a fairly simple story where a boy and girl, who come from different economic backgrounds fall in love with the woman’s father, played by Shammi Kapoor, fighting to keep them apart but it all ends with a happily ever after. It is strange to see that the film, which could have been the make or break point of Javed’s career since he was writing a film’s script all by himself for the first time, depended more on its music and locations than its storytelling.

Betaab was shot in Kashmir and it focused heavily on its locations. If you have visited Kashmir at any point since the early 1980s, there is no way that you haven’t been directed towards ‘Betaab Valley’. The film worked as a showreel for Sunny who is showcased as the boy-next-door, action hero, lover boy, adorable son, rebel, and everything else that a mainstream actor might have needed in the 1980s. He walks around bare-chested, rides on horses and kicks like he is his father’s spitting image and glides through the film. It is hard to dissect a successful film from the 1980s and find out what worked for it. Sure, we can speculate but there isn’t a formula that guarantees a hit film but Sunny probably knew what was working for him and stuck to it. Even 40 years later, he is still doing the same thing.

Sunny has gone through long dull patches in his career where his films were either not connecting with the audience or were just not massive enough for them, but every single time he had a blockbuster (Ghayal, Damini, Ghatak, Border and Gadar), it came from the same formula. The formula is – to throw punches with all confidence in the world and scream at a decibel high enough that the audience has to listen to you. Betaab had it, and so did Gadar 2. Gadar 2’s blockbuster success has been viewed as a sign of his return, after several years of disappointment at the box office. Directed by Anil Sharma, the film has made more than Rs 510 crore in India and is on track to beat Pathaan’s Rs 543 crore record.

In an earlier interview with indianexpress.com in 206, Sunny Deol shared that he wanted to remake Betaab and recreate the magic with Amrita and Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara Ali Khan starring alongside his son Karan Deol. Sunny even called up Amrita and told her he would like to cast Sara opposite Karan. However, it was not meant to be. Amrita had to turn down the offer as by then, Sara was already under contract with Dharma Productions, about to make her film debut.

Unlike many other actors who have gone through their kind of evolution in the last few decades – Salman transforming from the lovable Prem to Bhai, Shah Rukh experimenting a bit apart from being the quintessential lover boy, Akshay Kumar going from action to comedy to dabbling in a few other genres, and Aamir Khan experimenting with every other film that he picks – Sunny has stuck to his guns. Some might wonder if he craves to be different but looks like, the actor is still ruling the box office with a 40-year-old formula. And if the box office, which is an indication of the masses loving it, is still in his favour, why would he even dare to be different?