Bollywood Retro: Anil Sharma's 'Gadar 2' came last year. In this film, the pair of Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel once again created a stir and the film became a blockbuster. 'Gadar' released in 2001 was also a super duper hit, but do you know that Ameesha Patel was not Anil Sharma's first choice for the role of Sakina.

Many actresses were approached for the role of Sakina. The film's director Anil Sharma himself had revealed this in an interview given to Bollywood Thikana. Anil Sharma had said that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Kajol were approached for the role of Sakina opposite Sunny Deol who played Tara Sharma in the film.

Aishwarya and Kajol were also approached.

Anil Sharma said, "When working on the film, there were many names in mind. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kajol. Apart from these, there were many more. I also narrated the script to him. Two or three of them liked the script. While some rejected it. Who rejected, I don't want to go into it.'' According to Anil Sharma, a popular actress had shown interest in playing the role of Sakina for the film 'Gadar', but she had demanded a higher fee. Due to budget constraints, the producers asked Anil Sharma to choose between the actress and Amrish Puri for the film.

Now Anil Sharma had to choose between

a popular actress or Amrish Puri for the film. In such a situation, Anil Sharma decided to go with Amrish Puri and Ameesha Patel played the role of the leading lady in the film. He said, "I chose Amrish ji and agreed to cast the new heroine. Amrish ji was our need. The film could not have happened without him. He could have played the powerful role of Ashraf Ali. So we went with a new face.