Despite being the son of acclaimed filmmaker David Dhawan, Varun made his Bollywood debut with a Karan Johar film to keep up with “a family tradition”
Varun Dhawan and David Dhawan
Despite being the son of acclaimed filmmaker David Dhawan, Varun made his Bollywood debut with a Karan Johar film to keep up with “a family tradition”. At the launch of his niece Anjini Dhawan’s debut film, Binny and Family, Varun shared, “She is my niece, but I am here as [her] older brother. It is a good film, and that is why I am here. My father never launched me because that tradition is not there in my family; he doesn’t believe in that. [Similarly], we have no hand in what she has done, and it will be wrong for me to take credit for any of her success. Genuinely, she has done it on her own,” he said. Varun stepped into Bollywood with Student of the Year (2012), which also marked the debut of star-kid Alia Bhatt, and Sidharth Malhotra.
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Richie pairs up with Harman
Richie Mehta will executive produce Boy from Andaman, an upcoming movie from first-time filmmaker Parinaz Jal. Mehta, best known for creating Netflix’s International Emmy-winning series Delhi Crime, has partnered with Harman Baweja’s studio for the project. The narrative follows a Mumbai-based post-office worker who comes across a letter addressed to God. It belongs to a young boy who survived the deadly 2004 tsunami in the Andaman Islands. “An unlikely friendship develops between the two through a series of letter exchanges before [the worker] decides to travel to the Andamans and save the boy,” the official plotline read. “The story resonated with me. I can’t wait for audiences to experience this beautiful journey,” Baweja said.
Old is still gold
With a host of new films, including star-led biggies, tanking at the box-office, older ones are being re-released on the big screen to surprising success. Trade experts are looking at the move as a means to fill up cinema halls and recover money. “It’s beneficial for exhibitors, and whoever holds the right to the film also earns money. For instance, when Rockstar [2011] released, it didn’t do well. But this generation loves these films. The average occupancy for Laila Majnu [2018] was 40 per cent in India. In some properties in Mumbai, it registered over 80 per cent occupancy,” trade analyst Atul Mohan said of the Triptii Dimri starrer amid the actor’s new-found fame post Animal [2023].
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