Dharmendra On His Family Film Apne Which Completes 17 Years | EXCLUSIVE

dharmendra on his family film apne which completes 17 years exclusive

Anil Sharma’s Apne features the iconic Dharmendra, playing a Punjabi 'Sylvester Stallone' who has been disgraced in the boxing championship, and his troubled relationship with his elder son (Sunny Deol), who won't box, and his younger son (Bobby), who can't.

Caught between the 'can't' and the 'won't' of lives that share tears and chuckles as destiny reigns hard blows, this portrait of bonafide emotions is free of duplicity. Or duplication. This one is original. The film is populated with men who fight for self, family, country, and morality on territory ranging from the terrace of a Punjab village to the boxing ring in New York, and most importantly, the human heartland, where most of life's ironic games are played by god and men.

Director Anil Sharma gets it right in almost every frame. The stretched-out plot takes the Deols, their elegant women, and their surprisingly restrained adversaries through several continents and time zones. Sharma never loses sight of the threads of the plot as the characters scatter across the continents, trying to restore family honour in hostile circumstances. The narration gets excessively dramatic towards the end. But the magic of the real-life family being alchemized on screen is preserved until the very end.

So when do we get to see the long-due sequel, Apne?

When we asked the ever-genial Dharamji, he chuckled and told Zoom, “Yehi sawaal toh main Anil (director Sharma) se poochta hoon hum jab bhi milte hain. Bhai, kab banaoge Apne 2? Our family film has been awaiting a sequel for seventeen years. Our fans are losing patience. Anil got busy with my son Sunny’s Gadar 2. He tells me he is working on the script for Apne 2. Jab tak poori tassalli nahin ho jayegi woh nahin banega. That is the right approach. The collective fans of the Deols expect something special in Apne 2. We can’t give them something unworthy. Apne 2 has to do justice to the Deols and to the audiences’ expectations.”