How Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2 Exploded At the Indian Box Office

The only reliable thing about the ‘science’ of predicting box office remains how unreliable it is. Analysts are humbled by it every other week and the most recent film to leave everyone’s heads spinning is director Anil Sharma’s Gadar 2 (2023), which crossed the Rs. 200-crore mark within five days. Both Sharma and lead actor Sunny Deol’s last hit of this magnitude was Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), released 22 years ago. Despite being the highest-grossing film in the year of Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, the first Gadar film barely had any cultural footprint (except the scene in which Deol uproots a hand pump to fight a mob, which has been parodied to death). With a cast comprising mostly-unknown actors, the trailer for the sequel seemed vaguely like a parody of the original. Yet prior to its release, the buzz for the film, particularly in the single-screen sector, gathered momentum with analysts predicting a massive opening day collection of approximately Rs. 30 crore (ultimately, Gadar 2 exceeded expectations and made Rs. 40 crore on the day of its release). 

Much like Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan (2022), which did record-breaking business and brought many single-screen theatres back into business after the pandemic, Gadar 2 has again shown that for Hindi cinema to remain viable, the ‘mass pockets’ of the exhibition apparatus have to do well.

Vishek Chauhan, an exhibitor based in Purnia (Bihar), said his theatre has been operating at a full-house for all shows in the first five days. However, he pointed out that Gadar 2 is doing well across demographics and sectors. “Whether it’s Noida, South Mumbai and South Kolkata, Gadar 2 is filling cinemas everywhere. This is what you call a bonafide blockbuster, which does well in mass centres, but also in the metros. Gadar 2 has overtaken Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) in just three days,” said Chauhan.

Karan Johar’s most recent release, lauded for its progressive messaging, has been a commercial success and is inching towards the Rs 150-crore mark in India. Rocky Aur Rani…  has been touted as a ‘multiplex film’ and with the arrival of Gadar 2, the gap between a ‘multiplex film’ and a ‘mass film’ seems more distinct. Ashutosh Agarwal, owner of a small chain of cinemas in Uttar Pradesh called Star World Cinemas, said the Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer opened to an average 30-35% occupancy in his cinemas. Even though it did go up to 50-60% on Sunday, holding steady even in the week after, the expectations from Johar’s film were higher. As per Agarwal, in towns like Prayagraj, Mathura, Agra, Mirzapur in UP, Gadar 2 has witnessed an average 95% occupancy over its first five days. Chauhan joked that rather than Indian tier-two cities, Johar’s B-centres are Canada and America, given the director’s popularity among the Indian diaspora. 

Film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as a ‘multiplex film’ or ‘mass film’. According to him there’s only films with niche appeal and universal appeal. “If you look at Wanted (2008), Singham (2011), they do well in the mass centres, but that doesn’t mean they don’t do well in the multiplexes,” he noted, going on to add, “When the investment is high, it is only sensible that they’ll cast a wider net for more footfalls.”

Agarwal – whose chain operates 26 screens in over nine properties with a capacity of nearly 4,600 seats – recounted how challenging 2020 and 2021 had been for exhibitors. “We were the first to shut down, and the last to open,” Agarwal remembered. Now with Pathaan and Gadar 2, he says India is finally getting back in the habit of going to theatres.

Both Agarwal and Chauhan feel Gadar 2’s success might have something to do with the film’s jingoism and youngsters getting their first look at Deol ‘exploding’ on the big screen. “I think it’s widely established that Gadar 2 is a nationalistic film, and quite strongly anti-Pakistan. That seems to be the flavour of the moment,” noted Agarwal. Chauhan calls Gadar 2 a ‘four-quadrant’ film – “The men are coming for Sunny Deol’s action, the elderly women are there for family values, the elderly men are coming for patriotism. There’s music, action, family values, comedy, patriotism.”

Chauhan said, “People haven’t seen a raw action film in ages. Many heroes have shied away from such films [as Gadar 2], even gone on to tone down their masculinity. But the audience has apparently missed seeing all this,” he observed. 

It’s worth noting that Deol has been trying to conjure his “action star” image over dozens of films in the past two decades, going so far to direct and star in a sequel of one of his most-loved films, Ghayal (1989). The 2016 sequel, Ghayal: Once Again, was a flop, and barely registered. So what explains the sudden avalanche of love for Deol? “I think it’s because they haven’t tampered with the first part. Over here, he’s practically remade the first film by simply changing timelines. This is Sunny in full flow – something that clearly appeals to the audience,” said Chauhan.

Kartik Ghai of Mukta Arts Ltd, overlooking the distribution of Gadar 2 in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, had a simpler explanation: “Gadar 2 is not a film, it’s an emotion. They’ve been carrying around this emotion with them since 1947.” Ghai believes Gadar 2 is the quintessential single-screen film. “The single-screen audience loves a maad-dhaad action movie,” he said. “You will not see these occupancy numbers for an OMG 2 or a Rocky Aur Rani… . Those are ‘evening show’ movies, they will never be able to fill the morning shows like, say, Gadar 2.”  Ghai also claimed the Anil Sharma directorial has reached centres in U.P. that even Pathaan couldn’t.

Rathi emphasised that for a film industry to thrive, it needs to produce all kinds of movies. “For every Gadar 2 we need a Dream Girl 2, for every Rocky Aur Rani we need a Pathaan,” he said. “We need films that cater to every demographic and psychographic across the board, only so that we have something for a diverse set of audience, week after week.” May the force (and handpumps) be with us.