Gadar 2 review: Sunny Deol's chest-thumping actioner is stale, could have been avoided

 Gadar 2 review: Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel's sequel to 2001 hit is actually a launch vehicle for director Anil Sharma's son Utkarsh.

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The hand pump is back and so are the snarls. The kid has grown up, and lands in Pakistan to take the villains head on just like his father did 17 years ago. Gadar 2, a sequel to Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), is a classic case of old wine in old bottle and offers very little freshness in terms of its character arcs, settings and the premise. Yet, it qualifies to be a one-time watch for its ability to give an adrenaline rush with its action sequences. There are throwbacks to the first film as we see many old characters in addition to a few new faces. Director Anil Sharma, in a bid to take the story forward, makes some changes in the script and coins a story that works in parts and also stays sluggish in some places. (Also read: Gadar 2 and OMG 2 release and review live updates)

While Gadar narrated the love story of Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakina (Ameesha Patel), Gadar 2 is a tale of hatred between India and Pakistan that refuses to die down, told from the lens of a father's bond with his son. As the fear of war looms large, Lieutenant Colonel Devendra Rawat from Punjab (Gaurav Chopra) asks Tara for his help to deploy his trucks and send 

immediate ammunition at the border to help Indian soldiers. Fighting the enemies, Tara disappears along with six Indian soldiers. It's later revealed that they are held captive by Pakistan Major General Hamid Iqbal (Manish Wadhwa), who wants to avenge the death of 40 members of his battalion that Tara had slaughtered during the climax sequence of Gadar.