David Dhawan is a genre in himself, and he has an unshakable understanding of what makes people laugh.
Ace film director David Dhawan celebrates his birthday on August 16, and it can be rightly said that he has practically invented the formula for the masala comedy. With a mix of chaos, and comic timing, his comedies have become a genre of its own. With a career spanning over three decades, he has remained at the helm of more than 45 films to his credit, and his name guarantees both laughter and commercial success.
For those caught unaware, David Dhawan kicked off his career as a film editor at FTII, Pune. He made his directorial debut with Taaqatwar in 1989, but it wasn’t until the release of Swarg (1990) and Shola Aur Shabnam (1992) that he found his sense of timing. He then released films like Aankhen (1993), Coolie No. 1 (1995), and Hero No. 1 (1997), and with these titles, he turned into a master of a new kind of Bollywood comedy. With his loud comedy filled with mistaken identities, slapstick humour, his formula films worked repeatedly at the box office.
While the audiences at times misunderstood his films as "mindless fun", the kind of humor that his films offered came from a deep understanding of the audience. His films worked because they were deliberately larger-than-life, and featured classic Bollywood tropes of the lost-and-found drama, the mistaken identity, the poor-boy-rich-girl love story, and so on.
Nonetheless, the key ingredients in a David Dhawan comedy included hyperbolic characters, fast-paced editing, catchy music and comic dances, and often supporting casts that steal the show, like Kader Khan and Johnny Lever.
No feature film of David Dhawan is complete without mentioning Govinda, who remained one of his most frequent collaborators and comedy muse. The Dhawan-Govinda pairing ended up delivering some of Bollywood’s most iconic comedies, including Coolie No. 1, Hero No. 1, Raja Babu, Partner and more.
Their chemistry redefined slapstick and dance-comedy. Govinda’s expressions and comic timing, paired with Dhawan’s storytelling, still remains an unmatched legacy.
Bollywood is at an age that it is constantly looking backward for inspiration, and guess what? David Dhawan took it upon himself to remake his own classics, and got his son, Varun Dhawan, to play the lead. The father-son duo have managed to recreate the magic for a new generation with Judwaa 2 (2017) and Coolie No. 1 (2020). While Judwaa 2 (2017), a reboot of the 1997 Salman Khan starrer Judwaa, retained the twin-switching madness with updated the humour and visuals, Coolie No. 1 (2020), the
direct-to-OTT release reimagined the Govinda-Karisma Kapoor starred with Varun and Sara Ali Khan.
In an industry that often takes itself too seriously, his cinema retains the value of pure entertainment. His films don’t aim to be cerebral but they make you laugh. While the originals had more slapstick humor, the newer versions offer a reflection of the cultural shifts over time. Now with Varun Dhawan becoming one of Bollywood’s most popular stars, the Dhawan legacy continues to thrive.
On his birthday, David Dhawan remains not just a celebrated director, but as a genre in himself, and he has an unshakable understanding of what makes people laugh. From Govinda to Varun, from multiplexes to OTT, he has done it all and the audience hopes he makes more of his "No. 1" entertainers.
