Actor-turned-politician Luv Sinha, who will next be seen in the most anticipated Gadar 2, speaks to The Pioneer on being a part of the film, and interesting insights from working on its sets.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
Luv Sinha, has once again come along to carry his father’s legacy forward — from the era when the British sowed the seeds of hatred between Hindus and Muslims dividing India into two nations! You read that right, Luv will be seen in the second installment of Gadar and to be a part of a time-classic work of fiction like this, he’s exceedingly happy. He’s following in papa’s footsteps!
In an exclusive conversation with an actor-turned-politician while escaping the collation discussions, he appropriately dived deep into the making of the most anticipated film coming after twenty-two years. “The director ensured that the new cast is made to welcome on the same sets which was once known to be the saga of a realistic portrayal of incidents that transpired during the partition. I have no complaints as a newcomer on the sets of the sequel of Gadar! There is something about my working process that differs from the other actors I work with—very automatically I tend to not focus more on capturing funny anecdotes. I don’t joke around too much! There is a certain limit that I can bond with Sunny Deol, after all he is my senior. I can never be over friendly with Sunny Deol because I am coming from a place of immense respect for him. Both our families are really close to each other, so to be working alongside Sunny Deol was definitely an opportunity for me.”
We were charmed by the sound of his voice. So, going ahead with this ridiculously talented man, we catchesized up on his anamnesis of the original. “The way I remember the original is not because of the rivalry that both the countries had—I remember it for the love between Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel. Sunny Deol as a lead protagonist showed humanity on screens to us! Even in the present times, it’s still very difficult to go beyond your religion and country for your love. Having said that, the internal war between the two countries is still going on. But the past month I watched the film again, and emotions still touched the chords of my heart.”
Coming from a family background of movies, and then continuing to aspire to be another actor from the same family, Luv Sinha still didn’t become a replica of Shatrughan Sinha. The way he justified what if the sequel isn’t able to make that delible mark in the industry tells us all. Such as, he said, “We can talk on the lines of milking successful films but It wouldn’t be the same case for a Gadar sequel. There are some things that are already in favour of the original! The original has already sent a chill down the spine, so realistic was the portrayal. Especially for the original fandom base, the makers have recreated the songs from the original. Forget about the industry, majority of the Indians would want to go back and visit a sequel of Gadar. With the teaser, and with the reunion of the original pair and infact not replacing the child artist—I am sure people will be anticipating what’s next for us. What has caused the conflict once again, they must be wondering! The magic of Hindi cinema has eroded somewhere, this sequel will bring it back. Every new script these days is showcasing the different cities of the country but not “bharat” on a whole! As an actor myself, I could relate to the feeling of being patriotic when I was filming the scenes. At least I have grown up watching Hindi cinema like this, hoping that our country or maybe the cinephiles embrace this once again.”
The sequences in the original Gadar mattered alot. As a fanatic of the original ourselves, we clearly remember how the era of the original was set up in the 1950s and that turned out to be a really strong point of the film. Will that era continue or will it not? Luv responds, “The grandeur has been increased this time. The era will be recreated! Visual effects are going to help enhance it because of the advent of technology. But nothing can be compared to the original!”
The special effects earlier would have turned out to be slightly gummy, but everything is changed now as per love Sinha’s analysis from the sets. The sequel is going to engage The dramatic and confrontation scenes once again! Recreating the bygone era without diversifying into various sub-plots, like most script writers do, is going to be a laudable move if done right. Over and above that, “Unfortunately late Amrish Puri is not going to be with us. It was a cult classic blockbuster and one of the main characters of Ashraf Ali played by the former truly turned out to be iconic. Constructing a proper story without an excellent antagonist is almost impossible and in the original Amrish Puri filled those shoes so aptly. His voice was his ultimate persona! Now Manish Wadhwa has replaced Amrish Puri, and he is going to be menacing to watch. I saw him turning ruthless when the camera clap used to go into action! He really knew how to add to the threat value of the film. And I witnessed that first-hand.”
By the bye: there is a common connection between Luv and the leading pair since all three of them belong to a film family already. We were rather titillating a little on how did three of them bring that sense of belonging into their camaraderie? Luv answered gracefully, “I was actually hanging in the middle. Utkarsh is younger to me and Sunny Deol is extremely elder to me. Sunny Deol as far as I know him not always had a smooth ride in this industry in spite of being the son of legendary Dharmendra Ji. I just don’t look up to Dharmendra uncle, but to the entire family. He was also one of those uncles from the film families who made my childhood a little more snuggling and cozier. I was really fortunate to see such a close friendship between my father and Dharam uncle, always blossoming and it continues. And very similarly, Sunny Deol is turning out to be the same acclaimed actor his father is. Next in line, it will be an absolute honour to be working alongside Amitabh Bachchan and my most favourite Govinda bhaiya as I fondly call him. If I talk about Utkarsh from the sets of Gadar 2, he still is just the same disciplined child that we left in the original. He hasn’t become an arrogant boy for a second on the sets! Both of us share a lot many similar habits and we do not even have any vices.”
But wherefore, how is the sequel not going to lose the focus on the love story once again. To this, Luv returned to us, “The love is what drives the whole movie to the action elements so it can never lose focus on love even if it is a sequel. We have not down played the love elements at all! Not giving too much away about the upcoming movie, the child artist has grown up now and he is going to take the storyline forward somewhere. Apart from CGI and visual effects, all of us have taken part in a lot of practical action elements also. The explosions will be happening in real-time! And this was just the kind of action sequences that we have been missing these days with the penetration of streaming platforms. Not even the Hollywood movies has the kind of authentic action sequences we try to showcase because the former has become a festival of CGI these days. Continuing the subtle patriotism of the original, we are promoting love between the two countries once again. But a gentle suggestion because the audiences are way too critical these days, do not go under the radar of jingoism. You don’t need to read into every sub text, inspire yourself positively without causing any sort of furore on the streets.”
