Sunny Deol & Anil Sharma Movies Together List — 5 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 60% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Apne; the 2020s to Gadar 2. Sunny Deol acted in every film; Anil Sharma directed all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Anil Sharma cast Sunny Deol in Gadar after seeing his intensity in Ghayal. But the film almost didn't happen — Sunny was hesitant about playing a Sikh truck driver. Sharma convinced him by narrating the climax first, and Sunny signed on the spot.
• Sharma writes action scenes specifically around Sunny's physicality — in Gadar 2, the hand-pump sequence was designed to let Sunny use his raw strength without dialogue. Sharma says he 'directs with his fists' for Sunny.
• Gadar: Ek Prem Katha single-handedly revived the patriotic romance genre in Hindi cinema. Without its success, you probably wouldn't have got films like Border 2 or even the recent surge of war dramas.
• Sharma and Sunny have a standing rule: no one else reads the script first. Sharma narrates it to Sunny in person, and Sunny gives notes only after hearing the full story. They've never broken this ritual in 22 years.
• Anil Sharma once said in an interview: 'Sunny Deol doesn't act — he reacts. My job is to put him in situations where his reaction becomes the scene.'
• Apne (2007) was the first Hindi film to feature a real father-son trio (Dharmendra, Sunny, Bobby) playing a father and his two sons. The idea came from Sharma, who convinced Dharmendra to come out of semi-retirement for it.