As ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ completes 20 years today, director Anil Sharma says that he always wanted actor Sunny Deol to play the lead role in the film.

“When I was scripting Gadar, I could either imagine a young Dharmendra, from the time of Mera Gaon Mera Desh, or a Sunny Deol in the lead role of Tara. I could not visualize a third actor,” he said in an interview, reports News 18.

“We needed someone who would be a Punjabi Jat, talk in that tone, be well-built, have a soft and innocent nature. Both Dharamji and Sunny are like that. Sunny’s eyes have a lot of depth and softness. We couldn’t have cast anyone other than him,” he added.

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The director also says finding a child actor for the role of Jeete, Sunny’s onscreen son, was a struggle. The maker finally decided to cast his own son Utkarsh in the role.

“We had a hard time looking for a child actor for the role of Jeete…For 3-4 months we couldn’t find anyone, so then we finally decided to cast him, and his mother and baby sister too had to come to the sets. So for 100 days the whole family was part of the shoot.

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Utkarsh’s first shot was taken at 2:30 am at night,” said the director.

The film also starred Ameesha Patel and late actor Amrish Puri in other lead roles.