Ramesh Taurani’s Soldier released in 1998 remains an important film of his career. It was the first of the many collaborations between Abbas-Mustan and Bobby Deol and also marked the Bollywood debut of Preity Zinta. The action-thriller became a raging success at the box office, emerging as the second-highest-grosser of the year after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It grabbed attention for the chemistry between its lead pair with its music also contributed to its popularity.
A while back, Deol had hinted about a sequel to Soldier when he stated that he would want Taurani to make a sequel to the same. And the veteran producer, who recently released the spiritual sequel of Ishq Vishk titled Ishq Vishk Rebound, now exclusively confirms to News18 Showsha that his plan of coming up with the Soldier franchise will materialise very soon. “We’re definitely making a sequel to Soldier. We will begin shooting for the film next year,” he tells us.
Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, and Shenaz Treasury may not have been a part of Ishq Vishk Rebound but will Deol and Zinta reprise their roles in Soldier 2? “We aren’t sure about the cast yet. Depends on how the story shapes, we will take a call on whether Bobby and Preity will be a part of it,” states Taurani.
Talking about how Soldier became Zinta’s launch pad despite beginning the shoot of Kya Kehnaa themed on teenage pregnancy – also produced by Taurani – before, the Merry Christmas and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani maker recalls, “We had signed her for Kya Kehnaa first but it released late. While we were making it, Soldier which was a very big film for us was also going on floors. And we ended up casting her in Soldier as well.”
So, what caused the delay in the release of Kya Kehnaa? “Soldier was also ready by April 1998. We wanted to release it in August but we couldn’t. The reason was, that we had the music rights of another film starring Bobby called Kareeb which was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. We wanted to release its music in June and the film in August. We didn’t want two films of Bobby releasing in the same month,” he states.
Taurani further continues, “We were concerned how both the trailers would fare if they released at the same time. Even publicity for two films starring the same actor would have been a problem. That’s why we had to release Kareeb earlier.” On a related note, in an interview a while back, Deol had teased the sequel to one his biggest hits saying, “It’s been a long time! Maybe after Animal, Ramesh ji, Tips owner, will think of making [Soldier] part two with me.”
