GADAR - EK PREM KATHA
A New Era For Indian Cinema

The Jat dons back the pagdi that he would have, had he not been an actor, and brings back to life the lush greens of Punjab in the period film Gadar - Ek Prem Katha. Set in 1947, Gadar is a love story with the backdrop of the partition.

In the Zee Network-produced film, Sunny plays truck driver Tara Singh who bumps into Sakeena that is Amisha Patel when out with his truck once. And then, pyar to hona hi tha…

Then comes partition and with it the spell of separation. The lovers have to be away from one another and whether their love triumphs over one of history's ugliest events forms the crux of the story.

Directed by Anil Sharma who has behind him films like Shradhanjali, Hukumat, Elaan-E-Jung, Maharaja and Maa, among others, the film is the result of Sharma thinking up a strange yet novel backdrop for his love story.

Says Sharma,"I wanted to use the partition as a backdrop where Sikhs used to take the train from Pakistan to escape and more often than not, most would be dead when they reached home."

It was no easy task shooting at Amritsar station, however. In fact, Sharma could not shoot for a day though Sunny and Amisha were ready simply because the police found it very difficult managing the 20,000-odd crowd.

Sharma used the local Sikhs from Amritsar to recreate the feel. And was touched when one elderly Sikh cried after the scene and told him that he was on one such train from

Pakistan and saw history repeating itself in a way.
Sharma feels that with this love story, he can change the mindsets of the people.

"I want to erase hatred," he proclaims. "Partition was the biggest tragedy undoubtedly, " he says. "But we must accept it and remove the hatred. What happened happened."

Sharma claims that Gadar will definitely make a difference. "I don't have the budget of Attenborough to make a Gandhi, but it will be an example for Indian film-makers."
According to Sharma, the film should serve as a lesson to many. "It is a lesson for Indian filmmakers to make a good film. We had to wait for an Attenborough to make Gandhi.

Agreed that he made a good film, but we had to wait for him to do it rather than make it ourselves. But this film is
an example in itself. It did not have a great budget like Gandhi but it at least proved that we can make good films ourselves."

Gadar is also an interesting venture in the sense that all the money paid to the stars has been in white, paid by the corporatised Zee Telefilms. Hopefully, this will spell a new era for Indian cinema as well.

WRITTEN BY ANUSHA SAMIR GILL