Imagining the world of Apne (2007) without Dharmendra is hard not only for the legend’s fans, but also for producer Deepak Mukut and director Anil Sharma. In fact, after the veteran actor’s demise on November 24, Sharma, in a media interaction, said that Apne 2 would be shelved. However, the latest update is that the sequel — starring Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, and Karan Deol — is being rewritten since the script originally had Dharmendra in a pivotal role.

Talking to mid-day, Mukut reveals that he had narrated the script to Dharmendra only a few months ago. The veteran actor was gung-ho about reuniting with his sons on the silver screen, and more importantly, about sharing screen space with his grandson Karan.

He shares, “Dharam ji was very excited about the sequel. It was one of his wishes to make Apne 2 with his children. We are reworking the script now, which will be told from the point of view of Sunny and Bobby’s characters. There will be some changes as Dharam ji is no more, and we’ll miss him dearly. We are working on incorporating Dharam ji’s character in some way.”

The second instalment will be the producer’s “shraddhanjali” to the late actor. “If I cannot make a movie with Dharam ji, I can pay my respects to him through it. Apne 2 will be made and it will be a tribute to Dharam ji,” emphasizes Mukut.

A family drama, Apne told the story of Dharmendra’s Baldev Singh Choudhary, who hoped to regain his lost glory as a boxer through his sons. The next edition will take the original story forward. “It is a continuation of the original, and Karan will be introduced as Angad’s [Sunny’s character] son,” reveals the producer. One wonders why Sharma announced shelving the sequel when work on it is ongoing.

Ask Mukut, and he says, “I don’t know why Anil said it. When I asked him, he flatly denied having said that the sequel is shelved.”

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Dharmendra and Sunny Deol appeared together in ‘Sultanat’ (1986) and ‘Kshatriya’ (1993). The veteran actor had a cameo in ‘Sunny’ (1984), but didn’t share screen space with his son.

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‘Apne’ was the first film that saw Dharmendra share screen space with his sons Sunny and Bobby Deol. The trio then appeared in the ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ franchise, which had three instalments.