The Khan trio- Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have been ruling Bollywood for decades with their talent, performance and enormous fan following. Although the face value of the Khans is now fading away and it is the curtain down on the era of Khans, but there was a time when their popularity and fan following was beyond imagination. It was considered an achievement to beat their films at the box office.
However, then emerged a star who not only overpowered Aamir Khan’s stardom but beat his film black and blue. He was “Dhai Kilo ka Hath” fame Sunny Deol.
Aamir’s Lagaan vs Sunny’s Gadar
Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol, both the actors were quite popular among the cinemagoers for their powerhouse performances. Back in the 90s, the duo had already clashed twice at the box office. While on June 22, 1990, Aamir Khan starrer romantic drama ‘Dil’ had hit the screens, Sunny Deol’s action entertainer ‘Ghayal’ too hit the big screens on the same date. Both the films enjoyed massive popularity and love from the audience.
Then came November 1996, Indians yet again witnessed the clash when Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor’s ‘Raja Hindustani’ and Sunny Deol-Meenakshi Seshadri starrer action hit ‘Ghatak’ released on the same date.
Moving forward to June, 2001, the year was a blockbuster for Indian cinema as it had witnessed the biggest ever clash in the Bollywood industry. Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ and Sunny Deol’s ‘Gadar’, both the movies arrived and conquered the box office the way no one would have ever imagined. Both the movies were based on historic narratives.
Gadar overpowered Aamir Khan’s Lagaan
It has been 21 years since the release of both films. Wait, what? There’s always a better performer who throws out the respective competitor and, in this case, you’ll be surprised to know which movie overpowered and managed to attract the masses four times than that of the other.
It is true that Lagaan got nominated for best foreign film category at the Academy Awards. But in 2001, the audience went crazy for Sunny Deol’s Gadar. Never in the history of entertainment in India, people have seen the crowd travelling in trucks only to watch the movie. Gadar was based on an issue that was close to the audience’s heart and it wasn’t a typical Bollywood love story.
This is exactly why the lifetime box-office collection of Gadar is twice to that of Lagaan. The lifetime collection of Gadar is Rs 70 crore while Lagan could earn only Rs 30 crore. Speaking with the media about their epic clashes, Aamir Khan once shared, “I believe that two or more films releasing on the same day will still do good if they are well-made. Sunny Deol and I have a history. Dil and Ghayal released the same day and they did well. Gadar and Lagaan did well. Sunny also had a film around the release of Raja Hindustani, I do not remember the name. I was prepared for Gadar to be a good film. What I was not prepared for, was the monster of a film that it was. People would travel in trucks for the film. Gadar was at least three times, if not four times, bigger than Lagaan. Gadar was a tsunami. If Lagaan was even one percent less of a film, we would not have stood a chance anywhere. It is good that both films did good and received all the love. Lagaan may not have done great business but it received a lot of love.”
Such was the content, storyline, acting skills of the movie ‘Gadar’ that it easily managed to throw ‘Lagaan’ out of box-office and stardom of Sunny Deol overpowered Aamir Khan.
Gadar – the movie that changed the narrative of the partition of India
Sunny Deol is well known for his action prowess. However, he mesmerised us with the sweet personality of Tara Singh in this movie. Amisha Patel, just a movie old, was equally likeable as Sakina. Even Vivek Shauq provided the perfect comic relief as Tara’s assistant, Darmiyan Singh. Amrish Puri was both likeable and repressive as the concerned but barbaric Ashraf Ali, and even today, nobody can say that they hate the music of ‘Gadar – ek Prem Katha’. Only an idiot would claim he/she hates ‘Udd Ja Kaale Kaanwan’ or ‘Main Nikla Gaddi Leke’.
Read more: 20 years of ‘Gadar’: The film that changed the narrative of the partition of India
The opening scenes were so unblemished, and the way the director showed the sufferings of the Hindus, the Sikhs, as well as the Muslims during the partition, without any special bias for any of them, was something that was actually missing in the previous movies. Of course, the movie did have its fair share of commercial potboilers, but even for its era, it was surprisingly realistic and engaging.
When ‘Gadar’ released at the theatres, it didn’t release without its share of protests. The radical Muslims, aghast by the portrayal of the stark reality of the partition in front of their eyes, rampaged many theatres in various parts of India. However, to everyone’s surprise, the makers were unfazed by the challenge of the radicals, and the movie continued to rake in moolah at the box office.
There’s a reason why Gadar has been winning hearts since last 21 years and it will continue do so for the magic it has in the movie.
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