Ameesha Patel has appeared in many big Bollywood films, but Gadar earned her unprecedented fame. The 2001 romantic period action drama, starring Sunny Deol in the leading role, is the second most-watched film in India since the 1990s. But did you know Sanjay Leela Bhansali advised her to retire after the film’s success? Scroll below for the interesting throwback.
Anil Sharma directed Gadar, which was set during the partition of India in 1947. It set the box office on fire, setting many milestones, including 50 million+ footfalls in India. The film made a total collection of $1.33 billion worldwide. A sequel was released in 2023, received massive praises, and became the eighth highest-grossing Hindi film of all time.
While Gadar 2 reprised Ameesha Patel as Sakina, it would not have been possible had she listened to the advice of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But what was the idea behind making such a suggestion in the first place?
Ameesha Patel had revealed to Bollywood Hungama, “Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, after watching Gadar, wrote a really beautiful letter, complimentary letter to me. And when I had a meeting with him, he said, ‘Ameesha, you should retire now.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because you’ve already achieved in two films what most people don’t achieve in their entire career. Once in a lifetime, a Mughal-e-Azam, a Mother India, a Pakeezah, a Sholay gets made. You had it in your second film. So what’s next?’ I didn’t understand it at that time because I was a kid, so new to the film world.”
Meanwhile, Ameesha, after basking in major success in Gadar – Ek Prem Katha (2001), starred in many other superhit films. Her filmography includes Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), Race 2 (2013), among others.
In 2019, Ameesha Patel also joined Salman Khan hosted Bigg Boss 13 as the owner of the house. Her inclusion received a mixed response by the viewers.
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