25 years after Gadar beat Lagaan at the box office, Sunny Deol and Aamir Khan team up

This day 25 years ago saw one of the biggest clashes in Bollywood history, when Ashutosh Gowariker’s period sports drama Lagaan, starring Aamir Khan, went head-to-head with Anil Sharma’s cross-border action romance Gadar, starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel, on June 15, 2001. It’s one of the rare occasions when both films emerged as blockbusters, however one much bigger than the other.

Lagaan vs Gadar wasn’t the first time Aamir and Sunny squared off against each other at the box office. The first instance was over 35 years ago, when Aamir-starrer romantic drama Jeet clashed with Sunny-starrer vigilante action film Ghayal on June 22, 1990. While Dil was helmed by Indra Kumar and also starred Madhuri Dixit, Ghayal was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

Made on a budget of Rs 2 crore, Dil earned 10 times the amount when it scored Rs 20 crore at the box office. Ghayal also earned as much, although it was made on a slightly higher budget of Rs 2.5 crore. Thus, while the box office turned out to be a tie, it can be concluded that Aamir’s movie had a slightly higher higher ROI (return on investment) than Sunny’s Ghayal.

Aamir Khan’s Dil and Sunny Deol’s Ghayal clashed at the box office in 1990.

The second major box office clash between Aamir and Sunny’s films happened six years later. The former’s action romance Raja Hindustani released on the same day as the latter’s action drama Ghatak on November 15, 1996. The former, directed by Dharmesh Darshan, also starred Karisma Kapoor, while the latter reunited Sunny with Rajkumar Santoshi and Meenakshi Seshadri after Ghayal.

Once again, Aamir gained the upper hand when Raja Hindustani, made on a budget of Rs 5.75 crore, went on to earn Rs 76.34 crore at the worldwide box office. On the other hand, Sunny’s Ghatak, made on a slightly higher budget of Rs 6.25 crore, earned far less at Rs 32.70 crore globally. Nonetheless, both their films emerged as blockbusters yet again despite the clash.

Aamir Khan’s Raja Hindustani and Sunny Deol’s Ghatak clashed at the box office in 1996.

When Gadar beat Lagaan

Third time, however, wasn’t the charm for Aamir. He even turned producer with Lagaan, launching his banner Aamir Khan Productions, and made the period sports drama on a massive budget of Rs 25 crore. Lagaan, despite being dismissed by several industry insiders and trade pundits, went on to earn over Rs 65 crore at the worldwide box office. It also fetched wide global acclaim, even earning a nomination in the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards in 2002.

Despite the monumental achievement of Lagaan, it was Sunny’s Gadar that emerged as the bigger hit on June 15, 2001. Made on a lesser budget of Rs 18.50 crore, Gadar became a rare film at the time to cross the coveted Rs 100 crore mark at the global box office, when it amassed over Rs 133 crore. Thus, it’s the first instance after two past setbacks that Sunny’s film managed to outperform Aamir’s movie at the box office.

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What Aamir, Sunny said about Lagaan vs Gadar clash

Five years ago, when Lagaan and Gadar completed 20 years since release, Aamir addressed the media and recalled being slightly wary of the clash with Sunny’s film, and then admitted he never imagined it’d be such a humongous hit. “The producer had met me once and he had told me the outline, so I knew it would be a good film. I was prepared for Gadar to be a good film. What I was not prepared for, was the monster of a film that it was,” he confessed.

“People would travel in trucks for the film. Gadar was at least three times, if not four times, bigger than Lagaan. Gadar was a tsunami. If Lagaan was even one percent less of a film, we would not have stood a chance anywhere,” claimed Aamir, adding that he believes if two good films release on the same day, they’re bound to do well instead of destroying the other completely.

Three years ago, as Sunny prepared himself for the release of Gadar 2, the sequel to his 2001 blockbuster, he also addressed its clash with Akshay Kumar’s satire OMG 2 at the box office. “There was a competition with Lagaan, and people in the industry were siding with Lagaan. But I didn’t give it much thought and said, ‘Let’s see what happens,'” Sunny told Aaj Tak in August 2023.

As it turned out, Gadar emerged as the far bigger hit, earning almost double than what Lagaan did. Sunny, however, insisted that though he hadn’t watched Lagaan, it’s a “very, very good film”. The sequel was no different, as Gadar 2 amassed over Rs 686 crore at the worldwide box office, resurrecting Sunny as one of the most bankable movie stars of India yet again.

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Aamir, Sunny join forces for Batwara

Interestingly, Gadar 2 also set something else rolling. Its massive box office gave Aamir the confidence to approach Sunny to play the lead role of his upcoming production, Batwara. Based on the popular play Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, Batwara is a story set during the Partition. While Lagaan and Gadar were both patriotic dramas, Aamir considered Sunny to be a better pick to headline a Partition drama like Batwara.

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Sunny admitted that he was initially surprised that Aamir approached him to act in his production, but later agreed to do the film. Batwara would also reunite him with Rajkumar Santoshi after hits like Ghayal, Ghatak, and Damini (1993). Also starring Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal, and Karan Deol among others, Batwara is slated to release in cinemas on August 14, on the eve of Independence Day, and just two months after the 25th anniversary of the iconic Lagaan vs Gadar box office clash.