David Dhawan recalled that Varun Dhawan received a compliment from none other than Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan after being chosen as Student of the Year. They called him “a lambi race ka ghoda”.
Filmmaker David Dhawan admitted that he was deliberately harsh on his son, Varun Dhawanwhen they first worked together on a film. Varun had just entered the business under Karan Johar and was accustomed to a certain style of working. He had also assisted Karan on the film My Name is Khan several years before making his acting debut with Student of the Year.
In a chat with Arbaaz Khan on The Invincibles Series, David spoke about how Varun discreetly went to Karan and asked him for a job, while David and his wife Lalli Dhawan wondered if he would be suitable for a job in a bank. “He came back from abroad after studying and I asked him, ‘What do you want to do in life?’ Lalli said, ‘Everyone is taking up a job in a bank these days.’ We never talked about films. Suddenly, he went to Karan Johar and said, ‘I want to help you.’ Karan obviously knew the family very well and they went abroad to work on My Name is Khan. The cameraman, Ravi Chandran, was the one who told Karan to keep an eye on him.”
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David continued, “Karan came to our house and told us that he wanted to launch it, and they did a photoshoot with Sidharth Malhotra.” David recalled that Varun often felt insecure while shooting for his first film, presumably because of Sidharth. He said, “I was with him and some days he would get very angry too. I told him, ‘These things happen in two-hero films. Listen, my son, you are very good. Your confidence is something special. Don’t be afraid, take the leap. ’”
David recalled that when the film was released, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan sent a kind message saying that Varun was a “lambi race ka ghoda (destined for greatness)”. After that, several people said that Varun and David should work together. But Varun was used to a different style and was not ready to work with his father, who did not have a suitable script for his film, Main Tera Hero. Arbaaz recalled that Varun allegedly cried on the second day of shooting as well.
David said: “I didn’t want to give him special treatment just because he’s my son,” and admitted that he was hard on him. “There was one scene, I remember, he was supposed to come on a bike and he fell down. And I joked: ‘Where does this hero Karan Johar come from?“He would get angry and complain to his brother that he was being humiliated in front of everyone.”
David’s last three films have starred Varun in the lead role. After Main Tera Hero, which received poor reviews but was a modest box office success, they collaborated again for the critically panned Judwaa 2 and Coolie No. 1.
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First uploaded on: 30-07-2024 at 14:01 IST