The
International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2018) held yet another fun filled In-Conversation
session titled ‘Dha- One’. The panel had Rumi Jaffery in conversation with
noted film director David Dhawan and his son,the charming and hard working
Varun Dhawan. The conversation was filled with jokes and anecdotes about
Varun’s life growing up and working with his father.
David spoke about his
time working as an editor before he ventured into direction. “I’m still an
editor; It is my main profession and it gave me the confidence I now have as a
filmmaker.” He also revealed that though his actual name is Rajinder, ‘David’
was a name fondly given to him by a Jewish family in Kolkata.
Despite being the son
of a man who has edited over 60 films and directed 45 films this far, Varun
didn’t ask his father to help start his career. In fact, he had even
interviewed for a job at a bank before thinking about acting. While
recollecting his foray into the world of acting, Varun Dhawan was quite vocal
about his love for films of darker shades. The actor was all praise for films
like ‘Dhobi Ghat’, ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Badlapur’. Varun said, “I would have
given my right arm to be launched by Anurag Kashyap,” to which David quipped,
“Thank god, not!” Before he bagged his debut film ‘Student of the Year’with
Karan Johar,the actor had first auditioned for the film ‘Dhobi Ghat’. Varun
obviously did not get the role, but David interestingly, was relieved by this.
“I told his mother, if he wants to do films, he should do it properly. He can’t
start it (his career) with this kind of film.” When Karan Johar decided to
launch Varun’s career, David was delighted.
Varun’s ‘Badlapur’
film director, Sriram Raghavan, was also part of the audience during this
session. David said that he wasn’t happy with the changes he saw in his son
while filming ‘Badlapur’. “I saw he had grown a beard for the character, he
didn’t laugh, he didn’t talk for 20 days.” But his worry turned to pride when he
saw the final product.
While talking about
the pressure and anxiety during film releases, Varun said he wasn’t scared for
his big debut because he thought, “Bill toh Karan Johar pe phatega” (if
anything goes wrong, it’ll be on Karan’s head). He was the most nervous while
filming ‘Mein Tera Hero’, the movie director by his father, David. “Working
with papa was the toughest. I used to get bullied there,” said Varun and even
mentioned that he cried on the second day of shooting. While sitting in his
trailer, his brother and director, Rohit Dhawan laughed at him and said, “Papa
has worked with tough actors like Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn.
Don't think he'll treat you any different.”
Varun went on to say
that it was through his father’s tough teaching and directing advice that he
learnt to believe he could do anything as an actor.
When asked who in the
acting industry Varun would like to emulate, he simply stated, “ I want to be
Varun Dhawan.”
As
for the cinema he wants to do, the actor, who has already explored varied
themes with films like ‘Badlapur’, ‘Bhadrinath Ki Dhulhania’, ‘October’ and
‘Sui Dhaaga’ in such a short span of time, said: “I want to do all kinds of
cinema. I always function in extremes - either happy or sad.”