Sunny Deol on BO Success

mumbai:After the back-to-back success of “Gadar 2” and “Border 2”, superstar star Sunny Deol on Thursday said that the Hindi film industry has finally woken up to the fact that audiences want to see him in theatres. At the successful press conference of “Border 2”, Deol expressed his gratitude for the place where the audience “hid” during his quieter years.

“Where have (the audience) been hiding all these years? It’s a great thing (audiences going to the cinema to watch your movie). I tell everyone to work hard, love their profession and not lose courage. Time comes and goes in such a way that no one knows.

“I am grateful and grateful for Waheguru’s blessing. Wherever I go, I am met with great love from people. I think the industry too has realized why I will not do films if the audience wants to see me,” the 68-year-old actor said.

Deol recalled an emotional moment in London when he touched the feet of a fan in tribute to the soldier he played in the 1997 film “Border”.

“While shooting ‘Border’, I did not know that it would affect the audience so much. Then I realized how much we give back good things to society without realizing it. Almost all of my films are like these and have a message in them. The audience enjoys these films when they leave the cinema, they want to be like the characters,” he said.

The actor said, “In the past, our films were both good and bad reflections of our society… Now we call it a true story, but previous films were based on (real) events. For example, excitement started with films like my father’s films ‘Lalkaar’ and ‘Haqiqat’, then I made ‘Border’.”

The film, which is a sequel to Deol’s 1997 blockbuster “Border”, was released in theaters on January 23. Backed by T-Series and JP Films, “Border 2” has grossed over Rs 426 crore worldwide.

When asked about the tendency of filmmakers to inflate box office numbers in Bollywood, T-Series Producer Bhushan Kumar said that they maintain transparency.

“Everyone has their own way of reporting the numbers. But there are some things that shouldn’t be happening and the way the numbers are reported (inflated),” he said.

“When we opened the pre-booking for ‘Border 2’, Sunny sir asked me, ‘Is everything normal in our movie?’ he asked. We often hear about people booking tickets to promote the movie, but we at T-series are not into that. I told Sunny sir that it is organic (numbers),” Kumar said.

“If you create something questionable, it’s immediately noticed and that disparity becomes visible. I’m happy that this is our real numbers movie that people love so much,” he added.

Deol said he was excited about his new film series, including “Lahore 1947” and “Gabru”.

“Lahore 1947” is a period drama also starring Preity Zinta and Shabana Azmi and is scheduled to release on August 13. The film is directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Aamir Khan’s own production company, Aamir Khan Productions.

“Gabru” is an action-drama film directed by Shashank Udapurkar.

Deol said, “‘Lahore 1947’ is releasing, after which I have a good film called ‘Gabru’ and I will show it on several screens. It is a character I love. It is a story, an emotional film that tells how this man, who came to the city from a small town with the hope of doing something, is consumed by the big city.” he said.

“Border 2” also stars Diljit Dosanjh, Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Anya Singh and Medha Rana.