Sunny Deol and filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi, one of Hindi cinema's most successful actor-director duos, are reuniting after nearly three decades with the Partition drama Batwara 1947. According to The Indian Express, the film, backed by Aamir Khan Productions, is set for a theatrical release on August 14 and marks the duo's first collaboration since the 1996 action classic Ghatak.
The pair first worked together on the 1990 vigilante drama Ghayal, followed by the acclaimed courtroom drama Daminiin 1993 and Ghatak in 1996. According to The Indian Express, despite their successful track record, Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi did not collaborate again for almost 30 years, leading to speculation about differences between them.
For years, it was widely believed that Santoshi had wanted to cast Sunny Deol in his 2002 historical drama The Legend of Bhagat Singh, but creative differences and scheduling conflicts reportedly led to Ajay Devgn taking over the lead role. Around the same period, Sunny produced 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, featuring Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh and directed by Guddu Dhanoa.
However, speaking to the media in Mumbai, both Sunny and Santoshi dismissed any rumours of bad blood. According to The Indian Express, they clarified that the lack of collaboration was due to industry perception rather than personal differences.
"There's nothing like that. We were trying to do a film for quite some time since the early 2000s. Raj had narrated films on Asoka and Prithviraj Chauhan to me, but nothing was materializing because the producers didn't think we were saleable," revealed Sunny.
According to The Indian Express, the massive box-office success of Gadar 2 in 2023 changed the industry's outlook and reopened opportunities for the actor. It also paved the way for Aamir Khan Productions to back Batwara 1947, in which Sunny plays a Muslim man who protects an elderly Hindu woman, portrayed by Shabana Azmi, during the Partition of India.
"We were sitting on this story since 2010, but we were fortunate that Aamir wanted to do this film since he had heard it much earlier," added the actor.
According to The Indian Express, the narration of Batwara 1947 took place at Sunny Deol's residence in the presence of his family, including his late father, veteran actor Dharmendra. The story deeply moved Dharmendra because of its close connection to his family's own experiences during Partition. He reportedly watched and appreciated the completed film before his passing in November last year.
"We're a joint family from Punjab. Partition was mostly felt there. I'd heard a lot of stories in my childhood from my grandparents and other relatives. So, when Raj narrated it to me, I already had these stories within me," said Sunny.
"The most heartbreaking thing about Partition is that it should've never happened because so many innocent people died then. It's always the innocent who die," he added.
Sunny Deol has often portrayed characters against the backdrop of Partition, most notably Tara Singh in the blockbuster Gadar franchise. In Batwara 1947, he once again finds himself protecting a Hindu woman amid the violence of Partition, leading many to draw comparisons between the two roles.
However, according to The Indian Express, Sunny firmly rejected the similarities, explaining that the two characters are fundamentally different.
"Tara Singh was a very fun-loving guy. He was a romantic Sardar who loved music. When he saw a girl who was way above his level, he never imagined he'd marry her. It was just a pure love story of the truck driver, the girl, and the family. I never even got a chance like that in this film," said Sunny, laughing.
Unlike Gadar, where Tara Singh fights to reunite with his wife Sakina, Batwara 1947 portrays Sunny as a married man with grown-up children who is forced to leave India after Partition and relocate to Lahore alongside his family, according to The Indian Express.
Director Rajkumar Santoshi also believes Sunny's character in Batwara 1947 is unlike anything audiences have seen before. According to The Indian Express, the filmmaker argued that while Tara Singh fought for his own family, the protagonist of Batwara 1947 sacrifices everything for others.
"Tara Singh fights for his own right. Our character fights for someone else, and he goes to a great extent at the cost of his own family. I'm confident I can write good action heroes, whether it's Ghatak or Ghayal, but the character I've written for Sunny in this film, I rate it better than Superman, Iron Man, and all the superheroes put together. Because people can fight an individual, a group, and an army, but here, Sunny is fighting against fanaticism. The best of them can't stand tall against it," argued the filmmaker.
According to The Indian Express, Batwara 1947 marks not only the reunion of Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi after three decades but also brings together an emotionally charged story rooted in one of the most significant chapters of Indian history. With its release scheduled for August 14, the film promises a powerful exploration of Partition, sacrifice, and humanity through a story that both the actor and director say stands apart from Gadar.