Gadar 2: Deol goes on a rampage again

Director: Anil Sharma

Cast: Sunny Deol, Ameesha Patel, Utkarsh Sharma, Smirat Kaur

Rating: 2/5

Tara Singh, India's weapon of mass destruction, is back. It has been two decades, but the mission remains the same — pound Pakistanis to a pulp.

Sunny Deol's good old tool — the hand pump — stays 'rooted' to the ground this time. Instead, an electric lamp post does the honours during the heavy-duty show involving the ‘dhai kilo ka haath’.

Sunny paaji is all vintage charm as he shows up with an extremely good pair of lungs. One cry is enough to scare the daylights out of our neighbour. 

And that's about it.

Gadar 2 peddles the same old patriotic wares as the original. There are frequent references to the 2001 blockbuster as Deol and Ameesha Patel reprise the Partition-era romance with saccharine songs and histrionic howls. 

The Sikh truck driver and his Pakistani wife are now parents to a college-going son (Utkarsh Sharma), who would rather stare at a Dharmendra poster than study. 

It is 1971, and a war is on the horizon. Across the border, sinister generals with kohl-rimmed eyes are spewing vitriol against Hindustan. It is time, once again, for Deol to unleash the apocalypse on the enemy. Trucks, tanks, cannons, horse carts, hammers, swords, logs... Our man never runs out of ammo.

There is more melodrama as papa's dear son Jeetey gets trapped in Pakistan and is branded a spy. Amid a cat-and-mouse with the ISI, the young man crosses paths with a girl — Simrat Kaur, who is smitten to the core. 

Back on the battlefield, Sunny Brute Deol demolishes the entire Pakistani force with bare hands. Then he thunders on about the virtues of his motherland as Vande Mataram plays in the background.

Gadar 2 might be a treat for Deol fans. For the rest, Tara Singh is just a man grappling with anger management issues.