‘Gadar’ director Anil Sharma recalls scepticism over iconic handpump scene

Despite resistance, Sharma was certain that this moment, featuring Sunny Deol’s character uprooting a handpump, would become a key draw for audiences

• India Weekly
• 05 November, 2024

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By: India Weekly

ANIL SHARMA, the director of the 2001 hit “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha,” faced heavy scepticism over his choice to include the now-iconic handpump scene.

Sharma recalls that many thought the scene would appear unrealistic. “No one was impressed when I told them about the handpump scene. They told me it would look fake,” he said in an interview with PTI.

Despite this resistance, Sharma was certain that this moment, featuring Sunny Deol’s character uprooting a handpump, would become a key draw for audiences.

Sharma explained that he believed the scene resonated with the universal experience of intense anger, saying, “Sometimes when you are very angry, you feel like destroying everything around you.”

In “Gadar,” a post-Partition love story featuring Deol and Ameesha Patel, this scene has since become a significant part of popular culture.

The director noted that his inspiration stemmed from mythology, likening the handpump uprooting to Lord Hanuman’s strength in the Ramayana. According to Sharma, “Tara Singh may not be Hanuman ji, but the emotion is the same.”