In a delightful throwback that had fans cheering in nostalgia, Sunny Deol brings back his legendary “dhai kilo ka haath” punchline in his latest action-packed film Jaat. But interestingly, the actor wasn’t exactly thrilled about revisiting this iconic moment from Damini—at least not at first.

In a candid chat on IMDb’s Behind The Scenes, Sunny revealed he was hesitant when the makers decided to reintroduce the dialogue that defined his on-screen persona for decades. “I was a little bit not so happy about it, to be very definite,” he admitted. “But then I understood why it is required and why the director has conceived that particular dialogue to be there in that scene. It comes across very well and now everybody is talking about it.”

Sunny also reflected on working in a Telugu-language film for the first time, crediting the experience for bringing him closer to India’s grassroots storytelling. “The only difference basically is always the language, otherwise there was nothing because cinema is itself a language which we all understand,” he said. “The fun was that the subjects are so rooted to the nation. We hardly see Hindi cinema doing that off late for a long time.”

Jaat is directed by Gopichand Malineni in his Bollywood debut and features an ensemble cast including Viineet Kumar Singh, Randeep Hooda, Regena Cassandra, Saiyami Kher, Jagapathi Babu, and Ramya Krishnan. The film follows a mysterious man (played by Sunny) who stumbles into a village in Andhra Pradesh, oppressed by a ruthless couple—Ranatunga (Hooda) and Bharathi (Regena)—and decides to fight back.

Released on April 10, Jaat has collected ₹57 crore so far at the box office, according to Sacnilk. Though weekday collections saw a dip (₹4 crore on Wednesday), Sunny’s massy return to form—and that punchline—has left a lasting impact.