David Dhawan

David Dhawan Biography

David Dhawan is a well-established film maker of Bollywood known for comedy movies. Many of his comedy movies have been blockbuster successes and entertainment packages in Bollywood and he is best known for his association with actors like Govinda and Salman Khan. In fact he redefined the career of both these actors and gave them a comic touch. Maximum hits of both these actors were given by David Dhawan. He made ‘No.1’ series with actor Govinda and the movies were well received by audience. His leading ladies are Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Priyanka Chopra. Aankhen in 1993 was the breakthrough movie of his career which starred Govinda and Chunkey Pandey in lead roles. Mujhse Shaadi karoge, Biwi No.1 and Partner are other mega blockbuster hits of Dhawan. His most recent release is ‘Main Tera Hero’ which starred his son Varun Dhawan in lead role. Chashme Buddoor (2013) and Main Tere Hero (2014) were declared hits by box office.

He was born in Agartala, Tripura in 1955. He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India and started off as an editor. He is married to Karuna and the couple has two children – Varun Dhawan and Rohit Dhawan. Rohit Dhawan is a film director who started off with the commercial hit – Dezi Boys. Varun is an upcoming actor and a heartthrob to millions of fans. He made his directorial debut through 1989 movie - Aandhiyan which starred Shatrughan Sinha, Mumtaz and Prosenjit Chatterjee in pivot roles.

With his second movie Taaqatwar, he was teamed up with actor Govinda for the first time. Neelam was casted opposite him and Anil Kapoor was paired opposite Anita Raj in this movie. In 1990, he directed the comeback movie of Rajesh Khanna – Swarg which also starred Govinda and Juhi Chawla. It was followed by another hit - Shola Aur Shabnam with Govinda and Divya Bharti playing lead roles. Till then David Dhawan was known for making serious movies onscreen. He teamed up with Govinda, Chunky Pandey, Kader Khan, Shilpa Shirodkar and Raageshwari to make a trendsetter movie – Aankhen (1993) which was a remake of 1973 hit – Do phool.

The movie was a huge blockbuster hit and after that he started a series of comedy movies starring Govinda and Kader Khan in the pivot roles, starting with Coolie No. 1 in 1995. Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon joined the series and the movies include – Hero No.1, Aunty No.1, and Jodi No.1.   Shaadi No. 1 starred an ensemble star cast though Govinda was not a part of it. Biwi No.1 starred Salman and Karishma in lead roles. In fact Biwi No. 1 was released in 1999 at the time of World Cup series as the director was sure, World Cup fever won’t affect the box office collection. This movie proved to be a family entertainer and the biggest hit of the year.

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Updated: May 28, 2014