By Admin 
Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel’s superhit film ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ was released in theaters on 15 June 2001. The pairing of Tara Singh and Sakina left such an impression on the hearts of the audience that the film proved to be a blockbuster. However, very few people know that Ameesha Patel was not the makers’ first choice for the role of Sakina.
Kajol was the makers’ first choice
You will be surprised to know that the makers had approached Bollywood’s top actress Kajol before Ameesha Patel for the role of Sakina. She was also offered this role, but after hearing the story of the film, Kajol felt that this role was not right for her. This was the reason why he refused to do the film. Kajol herself had revealed this in ‘Aap Ki Adalat’.
The director told the truth
Now recently, the film’s director Anil Sharma has also reacted to these news. In Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, he told that before casting Ameesha Patel, there were talks with many big actresses for the role of Sakina. Along with Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s name was also included in this list.
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What did Anil Sharma say?
Anil Sharma said, ‘It is not that only Kajol’s name was there. Kajol was also there, Aishwarya Rai was also there. Talks were going on with many artists, but I don’t want to take everyone’s names. Everyone heard the story, but they did not understand its story. Someone did not want to work with me, someone did not want to do a film with Sunny Deol, and someone was not ready to do a period drama.
Actors wanted to do overseas films
Anil Sharma further said, ‘At that time there was a huge trend of films being shot abroad. The magic of songs from Switzerland, locations from London and overseas markets was working. The Indian market was weakening and the overseas market was performing well. At that time, artists wanted to do such films which would not offend the Pakistani audience. Be it an overseas film…be it a romantic film, but Gadar had Pakistan in it, hence many people were hesitant.
Actors did not understand period drama films
‘Apart from this, in 1998 people had little understanding of period dramas. Everyone wanted to do glamorous films. This was the reason why many artists refused to do ‘Gadar’. We also had a big challenge of budget. The producer told me that after signing Sunny Deol the budget was limited. He gave me two options, either take a big heroine or Amrish Puri. I chose Amrish Puri because Pakistan was Amrish Puri. I will also take any young girl as heroine. The role is so good that the girl who comes will become a star. After this we auditioned about 400 to 500 girls. Of them, 40-50 were shortlisted and finally 12 girls were left. Ameesha Patel was also included in those 12 finalists.
Fans waiting for ‘Gadar 3’
22 years after the success of ‘Gadar’, the sequel of this film came in the year 2023 and it also made huge profits at the box office. Recently the release of ‘Gadar’ completed 25 years. Let us tell you that in May 2026, Ameesha Patel had approved the third film of ‘Gadar’ franchise. He had claimed that ‘Gadar 3’ will earn more than Rs 500 crore at the box office.
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