Nearly 30 years after Border turned a generation of actors into war-film icons, the battle is being revisited, this time with a mix of old faces, new stars and a bit of digital trickery.

Border 2, set to release in January 2026, will bring back Sunny Deol in a major role. But surprisingly, fans of the original version will also witness familiar faces in brief appearances.

Akshaye Khanna, Suniel Shetty and Sudesh Berry will return in cameo roles, reprising the characters they played nearly 28 years ago.

The sequel, like the first film, is set during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. 

According to reports, the returning characters will appear as fellow soldiers from the same period, crossing paths with the new generation before the war begins.

The idea, say those close to the project, is to create a bridge between the old and the new, without shifting focus from the fresh story.

There is also a technical challenge. The actors are visibly older now, but the story demands the same timeline. To deal with this, the makers decided to use digital de-aging.

Akshaye and Sudesh have already filmed their scenes in Mumbai. Suniel, busy with another project, shot his portions against a green screen. 

Visual effects will later place him into the film and adjust his appearance to match his original look.

The 1997 action drama, directed by JP Dutta, was a major box office success and remains one of India’s most recognised war films.

The sequel is directed by Anurag Singh and stars Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty alongside Deol.