Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta and Rajkumar Santoshi revisit partition trauma in ‘Batwara 1947’
Mumbai: Actors Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta and director Rajkumar Santoshi have come together for Batwara 1947, a historical drama that explores the human cost of Partition.
The film follows Sunny’s character crossing into Pakistan — a theme of love and brotherhood that comes eight months after Dharmendra’s final film Ikkis, which also dealt with Partition.
Dharmendra, who was born in undivided India in 1935, was present when Santoshi first narrated Batwara 1947 to Sunny. “He got emotional upon hearing it,” Zinta recalled. Sunny added that his father saw a version of the film before his death in November 2025. “Papa loved it,” he said, his eyes welling up.
Growing up, Sunny heard Partition stories from his grandfather, uncle and aunt. “So, when Raj narrated Batwara 1947 to me, I related it to the real-life accounts from my family,” he said. Calling Partition “heartbreaking,” Sunny said, “It shouldn’t have happened; so many innocents died.”Batwara 1947 aims to revisit that trauma through a personal lens, with Zinta in a pivotal role alongside Deol.
