Since the teaser of the film ‘The Kerala Story’ was dropped by the makers, there have been debates around forced religious conversions and ‘Love Jihad’. Some believe the story has some truth in it while others simply call it ‘propaganda’.
Amid the film’s controversy of release and ban, actress Ameesha Patel made a controversial statement, about the film ‘Gadar’ released back in 2001. She said, the film is a movie that spread only ‘love and no hatred’ and brought all religions and castes together.
Notably, these statements have made it to the media at a time when the film Gadar–2 is all set to hit the theatres. The lead characters from the film, Ameesha and Sunny Deol have been busy promoting the upcoming film.
In a recent media interaction, Ameesha said, the film’s female lead character—a Pakistani married an Indian Hindu man and still followed Islam and the Hindu protagonist accepted Islam. The movie promoted peace and harmony and not hatred.
She said, “Gadar is a movie that never ever spread hatred, it only spread love and united all religions and castes. There is no bigger film than Gadar which shows that a Pakistani Muslim girl Sakina marries an Indian Hindu Tara Singh portrayed by Sunny Deol and still she did not forget Islam in fact Tara Singh accepts Islam. So think, films like Gadar bolster unity and teach us that we should live together,”
Well, who can forget the iconic scene from the film where, Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) in front of hundreds and thousands of Muslims in Pakistan says, “Hindustan Zindabaad Tha..Zindabaad Hai.. Zindabaad Rahega..”.
The film is based on a love story between a Pakistani woman Sakeena, who happens to cross the border and meets Tara Singh in India. They live happily until Ashraf Ali, played by veteran actor Amreesh Puri, Sakeena’s father took her back to Pakistan. When Tara gets to Pakistan to bring his wife back, Ashraf puts forth two conditions in front of him. The first is that Tara Singh will convert to Islam, and the second is that he will stay in Pakistan forever.
The next day, Tara is brought to a Mosque where a cleric asks to repeat after him, if he will accept Islam or not. “Kya tumhe Islam qubool hai”, the Maulvi questions. To this Tara Singh replies a man’s biggest “mazhab” is to protect his wife and children. An agitated maulvi repeats his question, to which Tara says “Kaaba and Kashi are one and the same”. The maulvi loses his cool and again asks “Kya tumhe Islam qubool hai” To this, Tara Singh clearly says “Qubool hai”.
In the next scene, Ashraf asks Tara to say, “Pakistan Zindabad” he repeats after him, “Pakistan Zindabad”. However, Ashraf turns notorious and asked him to raise the Hindustan Murdabad slogan. And then comes the iconic scene where Tara Singh aggressively tells Ashraf, “Hindustan zindabad tha hai or rahega (Hindustan was, is and shall remain zindabad)”.
This scene is followed by the famous ‘Hand Pump’ scene.
We have all scenes in the film, a number of times but nothing in the film or this scene is directed to promote peace and harmony or does it promote interfaith relationships. Denying the harsh reality of the current times with film ‘The Kerala Story’, Ameesha Patel is busy pushing flawed propaganda against the film by turning a blind eye to it.
In the film, Tara Singh did says “Qubool Hai” after the cleric but he did not undergo the rituals to become a Muslim, he did not recite Kalma nor did he offer Namaz. This is not how people convert to Islam.
Gadar 2 is said to continue the story after 22 years with the same cast such as Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, and Utkarsh Sharma who played the little kid is now grown in the second chapter. Gadar 2: The Katha Continues is directed by Anil Sharma and is produced by Zee Studios. The highly anticipated film is set to release in cinemas on 11th August 2023.
Her statement didn’t go well with netizens and received major flak. Netizens called her dumb for putting up the wrong facts. One user said, “I don’t remember in GADAR 1 Tara Singh accepting Islam!!! Kisi ko yaad hoto plz let us know.”
Second said, “Tara Singh ne Islam nahi kabul kia.” While another agreed to others and wrote, “No!!!! What … He didn’t accepted Islam he just respected her LoL don’t brainwash people.”
Another user wrote on YouTube comments, “So according to Amisha Patel converting to Islam and living together is the definition of love, harmony and peaceful existence ..”.
Another user said, “There is dialogue in gadar when dara saves sakina… And says ab ye ho gayi sikhani after putting blood on her maang… I thought there was conversion from muslim to sikh…was that act for save ones life???? Actors don’t even remember the dialogues… Such a shame…”
