Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi are once again heading into action mode. The actor-director duo, whose films from the 1990s continue to enjoy a strong recall among Bollywood fans, have several projects
in discussion following their reunion in Batwara 1947.
In a recent interview with PTI, Santoshi confirmed that he is working with Deol on a new action drama titled Ghatak Ghus Ke Maarega. While the name immediately brings back memories of their 1996 cult film Ghatak, Santoshi made it clear that the upcoming project will not be a sequel.
“Sunny and I are working on a few stories, and soon we will make a formal announcement about it. The film has full-fledged action. It is called Ghatak Ghus Ke Maarega. It is not a sequel. But it is the same character, like the character is from Banaras,” Santoshi told PTI.
The filmmaker also revealed that the film will bring back the same character played by Deol in Ghatak, but place him in a new story. The 1996 film, also directed by Santoshi, featured Deol as Kashi, a man who takes on a powerful gangster while fighting to protect his community.
Santoshi believes the new project will appeal to Deol’s fan base, particularly because of its combination of action and emotion.
“The fans of Sunny will be happy as this new film has action, powerful dialogues and emotion. Besides this film, there are two to three more stories in the pipeline with Sunny. For instance, one movie features Sunny as a sardar in America, which is also an action-drama,” the filmmaker told PTI.
The announcement comes shortly after Batwara 1947, which marked the return of Santoshi and Deol as an actor-director team after nearly three decades. Before their latest collaboration, the two had worked together on films including Ghayal, Damini and Ghatak.
Santoshi also addressed the speculation surrounding Jaat 2. The filmmaker confirmed that he will not be directing the sequel to Deol’s 2025 action film Jaat, which was helmed by Gopichand Malineni and also featured Randeep Hooda and Vineet Kumar Singh.
Explaining his decision, Santoshi told PTI, “I said no for it because I don’t believe in making sequels.” The filmmaker has instead been focusing on developing new stories, including projects with Deol.
Santoshi is also developing Ada Apni Apni, a comedy-adventure film that has naturally drawn comparisons with his 1994 cult favourite Andaz Apna Apna. The original starred Aamir Khan and Salman Khan in the lead roles.
However, Santoshi has stressed that the upcoming film is not a sequel. He explained to PTI, “It is called Ada Apni Apni, it is a different story, but the genre, comedy, and adventure are the same. We didn’t want to do a sequel as the story concludes with Andaz Apna Apna.”
There has also been curiosity over whether Aamir and Salman will return for the new project. Santoshi has not confirmed their involvement yet. “We will make an announcement soon in this regard,” he said while discussing the film’s casting.
