Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor cause 'Bawaal' in the UAE

The stars, along with director Nitesh Tiwari and producer Sajid Nadiadwala were in Dubai for the trailer launch of their film

Husain Rizvi

Published: Mon 10 Jul 2023, 6:21 PM

What would history's most valuable lesson be to Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan? While the Dhadak actor pointed out that it repeats itself, the latter said we should never forget it.

The context here is Bawaal, an upcoming love story starring Varun and Janhvi, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. In it, Varun plays Ajju, a history teacher. (More on their characters later).

All four were in Dubai for the trailer launch of Bawaal which took place at Queen Elizabeth II, the luxury floating hotel. Following the trailer reveal and a press conference, we caught up with Varun, Janhvi, Sajid, and Nitesh for a candid chat about the film and their shooting experience.

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Answering the above question, Nitesh said, "I think history should also serve as a lighthouse to a lot of us."

Sajid, meanwhile, said it is similar to his learnings from law. "It is like a precedent," the former law student said. "You know what is right, wrong, and what should be done. It is a great lesson."

From the trailer, Bawaal looked like a typical love story; a guy meets a girl and he wants to make her his wife. But we were reminded of Nitesh's (Chhichhore, Dangal) cinematic prowess as the trailer takes a dark turn in the second-half with war events coming into play.

But why war, we asked. "There are three ways of looking at it," Nitesh said. "First, there is an internal conflict which is a very strong point in the whole film. It is about a protagonist constantly at war with the world, and more importantly, the war within. Secondly, he (Varun) is a history teacher, so that also should give an idea about what is the relevance of having a war. Thirdly, it is about how we can take a leaf out of history and try and make our present better. These are the key elements of the film."

The makers did a good job with keeping the plotline of the film a mystery in the trailer. Very little is understood of the premise and the characters. But Varun focuses on one of his dialogues from the film, which should be enough to draw an outline of Ajju, a Lucknow-based history teacher, brimming with swag.

"Create the ambiance in a way that people don't focus on results, instead only on the ambiance." “That pretty much sums up the character and what he is about," Varun said. "He lives life that way, he is always trying to create an image for himself. Whether it is true or not, it doesn't matter. He makes up things, says things which may not be true, but makes people believe them. And when he gets a girl like Nisha in his life, his life changes. You have to see the film to know what happens next."

Nisha, on the other hand, played by Janhvi, is a warm and charming lady. "I think she's very different from the way I am, but I guess also similar in some ways," Janhvi said. "She is so much wiser than I am, more mature, and a lot more calm. And actually, I feel like her philosophy and values in life mirror a lot of Nitesh sir's values and his outlook on a lot of stuff. So I got to learn a lot from her."

Varun, meanwhile, doesn't relate to Ajju at all. "I am nothing like him," he said. "But it was a lot of fun doing the part and playing him, especially all the humour sequences. I would keep cracking up at all the small lines that kept coming in his interactions with people around him. I am nothing like him but enjoyed playing him."

Janhvi and Varun also shared their most memorable takeaways from the shooting of the film, which extensively took place across some of the best hotspots around the world including Netherlands and Serbia.

When they were shooting in Amsterdam, the two had to ride bicycles, and interestingly, Janhvi doesn't know how to ride one. And that was fun, Varun said, because every time she would ride a cycle, they would think she’d fall.

However, she did learn, albeit a little bit. “But the bridges were still tough for me,” she confessed. “Nitesh sir and the camera crew would set up wide shots and everyone would be on the bridge’s end watching me cycle and I would fall.”

But amongst the most memorable takeaways from the film is also the time Varun got slapped. A very daring Varun wanted to get slapped in real for the shot to look real, reveals Nitesh, and there were 18 takes.

It kept getting harder, said Varun with Janhvi jokingly adding, “I kept getting more free.”

Bawaal is set to release on Amazon Prime Video on July 21 and Varun hopes the film can create a ‘bawaal’ (uproar) in our lives. And Janhvi is very excited for us to watch the film. “It has got a lot of heart and soul,” she said. “And I hope it moves you in a way that I know has moved all of us while we made this film.”

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