Explained: Gadar and Gadar 2’s inspiration from Ramayana and Mahabharata

The stories in the Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata took place thousands of years ago. But the special aspect is that even the smallest of tales told in them are still relevant and shall continue to do so. Hence, even some of the movies of today’s times get inspired by them. Classic examples of this are Anil Sharma’s films Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and the recently-released Gadar 2, which are written by the veteran screenwriter Shaktimaan.

Ramayana tells the story of Lord Rama’s wife Sita being kidnapped by the evil Ravana and taken to Lanka. The incident happens when Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are in exile (vanvaas). Rama then teams up with Hanuman, Sugreeva and their vaanar sena, goes to Lanka and rescues Sita from the clutches of Ravana.

The first Gadar was about Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakeena (Ameesha Patel) falling in love during India’s Partition, getting married and having a kid. Later on, Sakeena, who assumed her family to be dead during the Partition and vice versa, realizes that her family and relatives are alive and doing well in Pakistan. Moved to know that his daughter is alive and hale and hearty, Ashraf Ali (Amrish Puri) takes her for a visit to Pakistan.

Little did Sakeena know that she will be held captive across the border by her own family, which also disregards her marriage with Tara. After trying hard with the authorities, Tara finally decides to venture into Pakistan with his son Jeete (Utkarsh Sharma) and friend Darmiyaan (the late Vivek Shauq) to rescue Sakeena and succeeds in it. The character of Darmiyaan is based on Hanuman here.

Anil Sharma himself had once said that the basic idea of Gadar was adapted from the Ramayana, of course by making several changes. Interestingly, he also said that just like how Ravana takes away Sita in his airplane Pushpak Viman, Ashraf Ali also takes Sakeena to Pakistan in a plane. There is also a version of Ramayana where Ravana is shown as Sita’s father. Maybe the makers thought about this version as well.

Gadar 2, which recently released, takes inspiration from a chapter in the Mahabharata. During the war of Kurukshetra between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu decides to help his father by penetrating into the Chakravyuh created by the enemy camp. He successfully enters the Chakravyuh. When he was in his mother’s womb, he had heard his father disclose the secret of entering the Chakravyuh.

However, as Arjuna didn’t reveal how to come out of the Chakravyuh, Abhimanyu is unable to come out of it. Hence, he gets mercilessly killed by the Kauravas.

Spoilers ahead

Similarly, in Gadar 2, Jeete, who is now grown up, goes to Pakistan to rescue his father after he believes that he is held captive across the border. However, that isn’t the case as Tara was in India itself. He has recuperating after an injury during a cross border operation. Tara returns home and is devastated to realize that Jeete is stuck in Pakistan.

Also read: Story of Ravana as narrated in Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai

Over here, Chakravyuh is symbolized by Pakistan. Jeete is easily able to enter the enemy territory. But just like Abhimanyu, he is unable to come out of it. Of course, Gadar 2 is a typical masala Hindi movie where a happy ending is a must and the hero has to win. Therefore, the final outcome is changed and Tara succeeds in rescuing Jeete.

The makers have indirectly announced Gadar 3 at the end of Gadar 2. We can just guess which story from Indian epics will be explored this time.

Also read: List of Ramayana references in RRR (SPOILERS alert)