Rajkumar Santoshi Admits He And Sunny Deol Had 'Fallout' After Ghatak: 'Naarazgi Toh...' | Exclusive

Rajkumar Santoshi and Sunny Deol are all set to come together after 27 years following the massive hits like Ghayal (1990), Damini (1993) and Ghatak: Lethal (1996). Deol returned with a bang with Gadar 2 recently and he’s once again the hot property in Bollywood with a bunch of big-ticket films in his kitty. As for Deol and Santoshi’s upcoming film, it’s titled Lahore 1947 and will be backed by Aamir Khan Productions.

Following the release of Ghatak, reports started doing the rounds that Deol and Santoshi had a major fallout but the reason for the same remains unknown. As per a report, Deol wanted Santoshi to helm a film on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh but the filmmaker chose Boney Kapoor’s Pukar (2000) over it as he was being paid a large sum of money for it. The episode, apparently, caused a crack in their relationship. But with Lahore 1947 all set to go on floors, it seems like all’s good in the hood.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha a while back, Santoshi addressed his tiff with Deol and opened up on his equation with the actor. “We did have a fallout. But he recognised me at a time when the world didn’t know me. Ghayal is my first film. He gave me the opportunity to make the film. He produced it. I was very new to the film industry but he gave me the full freedom to make the film my way. Yeh unka badappan hai,” he stated.

A post shared by Aamir Khan Productions (@aamirkhanproductions)

Santoshi further hinted at how they never had a creative conflict during the making of their films and in fact, lauded Deol for helping him find a footing in Bollywood. “He never interfered with the script or told me to make certain changes according to his sensibilities. He had complete faith in me. I’m truly grateful to him for giving me my first film. The trust he had in me gave me a lot of motivation. The film went on to win many awards,” remarked the Andaz Apna Apna (1994) director.

Santoshi admitted that where is there good camaraderie, there’s bound to be conflict. “We share great respect, friendship, bond and love. And where there is friendship and love, there is misunderstanding. Naarazgi toh apno se hi hoti hai,” said the veteran filmmaker, who last directed Bad Boy.

He’s quick to add that there were a few projects that they wanted to collaborate on but those didn’t come to fruition. That, however, hasn’t stopped the duo from working together again. “But every time we met, we did so with a lot of love. We spoke a lot about making more films together but they didn’t materialise. But finally, we’re working on a film now,” shared Santoshi.