David Dhawan on directing son Varun Dhawan’s kissing scenes: ‘What is there to be embarrassed about?’

Filmmaker David Dhawan has directed his son Varun Dhawan in three movies now -- Main Tera Hero, Judwaa 2 and the latest, Coolie No 1. David was among the most popular filmmakers of the 90s, churning out one rom-com hit after another such as Raja Babu, Saajan Chale Sasural, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and more. However, in the new millennium, the definition of romance has changed dramatically and kissing scenes are an inescapable requirement. Thankfully for David, he doesn’t shy away from including them in his films, even if it requires directing his own son for it.

In a recent interview, David was asked about the kissing scenes he had to film with Varun. He said it not a difficult task as they had a professional attitude while filming it.

“There was nothing difficult about it because we are very professional people. When I am shooting with him, I don’t look at him or ask him whether we should do this or not. I tell him that this is to be done. The script demands a kissing scene and so we have to do it. Practically, there is nothing wrong. Kissing scene is the lightest scene in the Indian films these days. It’s very fair when you are doing it professionally, you don’t look left, right, centre. ‘Arre yaar mera beta karra hai, sharam aarai hai. Kaae ki sharam aarai hai? (Oh no, my son is doing it, I feel so embarrassed. What are you embarrassed about?) There is no such thing. It’s all practical today. Now how the hero and the heroine do it is up to them,” he said in an interview to Bollywood Hungama.

In an earlier interview with Hindustan Times, David and Varun had talked about their equation as co-workers. David had said, “I treat Varun like I treat any other actor, rather a little worse. I’ve never treated him like my son or like a hero. If he does a bad shot, I reprimand him in front of everyone. But he is so good with improvisations. In the first film, he was a little nervous but he was still doing it well, but in Judwaa 2, he was he was full on — a complete commercial hero.” Varun had added, “And that’s the kind of relationship I want to share with every director. I’m very selfish when it comes to my films. My endeavour is to try to push myself in order to entertain the audience. Working with dad is an extremely satisfying experience for me creatively. Also, he pushes me and makes me think.”

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Coolie No 1 released on Christmas Day to negative reviews and audience feedback. However, Amazon Prime Video has maintained that the film had the biggest opening on the platform of the year. The IMDb rating for the movie had tanked below 1.4 last week but currently rests at 3.7.

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