Sunny Deol's role was a extended guest appearance. But he was splashed all over the publicity of the film.
Aseem Merchant was signed for the film but later replaced by Sunny Deol.
Sunny plays a Pakistani for the first time.
There was a shelved movie Shilpa Movie International "Kaafila"(1986) Starring Makrand Deshpande, Amit Thakur,Alka Aswani, Rajendra Zutshi, Music by Rajat Dholakia,Directed by Sudhanshu Hukku.
There was a shelved movie, Bunty Walia's shelved film " Umeed" based on the 1996 Malta boat tragedy. Directed by Navraaz Kaur.The film starred Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan. Sunny Deol's Kaafila was based on the same story. This was in 2004.