‘Govinda misunderstood’: Gadar director Anil Sharma says he never wanted to cast him in place of Sunny Deol

Govinda misunderstood that he’d been offered Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, director Anil Sharma has said in a new interview. Gadar completed 20 years of release on June 15, and the filmmaker recalled anecdotes about the film.

In an interview, Anil Sharma was asked if there’s any truth to the reports that Govinda and Neelam, and not Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel, were offered Gadar first.

He told RJ Siddharth Kannan in Hindi, “This is an outright lie. People talk. The truth of the matter is that I was working with Govinda on Maharaja. During Maharaja I told him the story of Gadar. He perhaps misunderstood that I wanted to cast him in the film, and that’s how the rumours originated.”

He continued, “I would work with him in a heartbeat, on not one but 10 films, but I never wanted to do Gadar with him. Sunny Deol was the first and last choice for the central role. And as far as the heroines are concerned, I had approached several big actresses of the time; Neelam was definitely not one of them. They had all some problem or the other. Some didn’t like the story, others didn’t like us. Some had their own personal agendas, some didn’t want to do period films.”

He said that they finally decided that going with a newcomer was the best option. They conducted auditions and tested over 400 actors, after which Ameesha Patel was cast.

Also read: Govinda was scared after hearing the story of Gadar Ek Prem Katha, says director Anil Sharma

In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, Anil also addressed rumours about Kajol having been offered the film. He said that he wouldn’t like to name anyone, but said that many of the actors who’d turned him down back then are now his friends, and have expressed their regret at not doing Gadar.