David Dhawan Can He Recreate The Judwaa Magic With His Son?

19 years ago Salman Khan played the first double role of his career in Judwaa. The feisty fun-filled farce-fest worked because it abundantly exuded that spirit of chutzpah which one associates with  Salman’s persona from the time he came in.The film was produced by Salman’s closest friend Sajid Nadiadwala.

Refreshingly Judwaa broke the Sachcha Jhutha mould of God Boy-Bad Boy double roles. In Judwaa both theSalmans were good. One was naughty, like Salman in Hum…Dil De Chuke Sanam. The other was a goodhearted simpleton , like Salman in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Now we hear Judwaa will have a sequel.And not just one sequel but a series of sequels. Let me explain. The actor playing the double role will change each time. But the concept of the double role will remain unchanged: Good Boy , Naughty Boy…ad nauseam.

Hopefully we won’t have a Judwaa film coming out every year. Earlier Sajid Nadiadwala had planned his second Judwaa film with Saif Ali Khan in the double roles. Since Saif solo is a hard prospect to sell, Sajidswiftly dropped the idea of doing Judwaa with the actor.

Varun Dhawan is being seen as the rising star of his generation. In 2015 he featured in a whopping three hits in completely antithetical roles, from the grieving and angry husband-father in  Badlapur to the dancing deva(as inPrabhudheva) in ABCD2  to the obedient chota bhai to Shah Rukh Khan in Dilwale. They all worked.

And now Varun’s star status is being used to benefit the family. He  featured in his father David Dhawan’s puerile Main Tera Hero , and successfully recreated  Dhawan’s Govinda brand of comedy. Varun is currently working in his brother Rohit Dhawan’s Dhishoom. Rohit directed the unsuccessful(though genuinely entertaining) comedy Desi Boyz in 2011 where Akshay Kumar and John Abraham had played ….believe it not…gigolos.

Go, giggle.

While Bade Bhaiya is keeping litte superstar sibling busy in Dhishoom papa Dhawan has Varun lined up forJudwaa.

The Dhawans can see what Karan Johar saw long back: it’s all about loving the family. While Varun made his debut outside his Dad’s domain in Johar’s Student Of The Year he is now fully into the family business. In fact his much-satiated Dad once told me, “I’ve a son who is a director and another son who is an actor. I can retire anytime I want.”

Not yet, I guess. David will do a Judwaa 2 with his son Varun before calling it quits. But  would Varun  be  able to fill Salman’s shoes? In David Dhawan’s Main Tera Hero Varun had played a Salman fan. Varun’s character was shown to have conversations with God.And guess whose voice ‘God’ spoke in ?

Salman, of course!

In Judwaa 2 if there is at all a space for ‘God’ it would have to be taken by a star much bigger than Salman.

If Varun is ready to fill Salman’s place he better be ready to find a bigger deity to converse with.