Sunny Deol‘s career saw a major revival with the massive success of ‘Gadar 2’ in 2023, but the actor has now opened up about the years he spent struggling to find good films despite delivering blockbusters like ‘Gadar’ and ‘Indian’ back in 2001. The actor also reflected on how his career slowed down gradually even after these back-to-back hits, along with the financial troubles that followed his ventures into direction and production. Let’s take a look at what he has to say.
Sunny Deol recalls career slump after ‘Gadar’ and ‘Indian’
Speaking on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, Sunny Deol looked back at 2001, when ‘Gadar’ became one of the biggest hits of his career, releasing alongside Aamir Khan‘s ‘Lagaan’ and earning around Rs 77 crore domestically. He followed it up with ‘Indian’ later that year, which he said performed even better than ‘Lagaan’.He said, “Along with Gadar, I also delivered Indian, which was a much bigger hit than Lagaan and all the other films of that time. It did two to three times of ‘Lagaan’s business. ‘Gadar’ did much more than that.”Despite these successes, Sunny Deol admitted the momentum didn’t last. He said, “Suddenly, corporates came in, and the film industry’s format began changing,” adding, “But after that, I don’t know why I wasn’t getting the right subjects and makers.”The actor then shared that after venturing into production and direction, his experiments added significantly to his financial burden, even as he maintained his contentment throughout the tough phase.
Sunny Deol says he remained happy despite debt
In the same conversation, Sunny Deol said, “I can’t do so many things for money. But to be very honest, I’m very happy. Even when I was in debt, I was very happy. I was living my life.”In 2023, shortly after ‘Gadar 2’s massive success, a bank issued an e-auction notice for his Juhu property, Sunny Villa, over dues worth Rs 55.99 crore. The notice was later withdrawn after Sunny settled the amount. He said, “The money I owed was all mine. I didn’t borrow it from anyone. I didn’t owe anyone anything. I just had to sell my own asset and pay back.”
Sunny Deol reveals directorial ventures added to financial pressure
The debt stemmed from Sunny Deol’s 2016 film ‘Ghayal Returns’, which he produced, directed and starred in. His directorial journey also included ‘Dillagi’ (1999) and ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ (2019), none of which succeeded commercially.On ‘Dillagi’s failure, Sunny Deol said, “I don’t know why it didn’t work. So many people come up to me and say they loved ‘Dillagi’, but I can’t help it. I did what I wanted to and gave my best.”
Sunny Deol talks about Aamir Khan backing his ‘Batwara 1947 ‘ film
Sunny Deol’s fortunes turned around with ‘Gadar 2’, followed by projects like ‘Jaat’, ‘Border 2’ and more. The success also revived his partnership with director Rajkumar Santoshi, whose earlier hits with the actor include ‘Ghayal’, ‘Damini’ and ‘Ghatak’.Sunny Deol revealed Aamir Khan approached him for Santoshi’s ‘Batwara 1947’ after ‘Gadar 2’s success. He said, “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.”‘Batwara 1947’ reunited Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi after three decades but collected around Rs 26.50 crore domestically over its opening weekend.
