Will Varun Dhawan-Janhvi's movie 'Bawaal' create history in the OTT zone ? -- by Chaitanya  Padukone

When I met director Nitesh at the recent  ZEE5 celebration party, he mentioned to me that he was highly impressed by the modest nature and total dedication of both his lead cast actors Varun and Janhvi. 

In this, Varun Dhawan plays a charming. a smart image-conscious history teacher who gains redemption through revelations and realizations that emerge from his deep historic study of WWII and from his new bride, portrayed by Janhvi Kapoor. The film shuttles between Lucknow in northern India and Western Europe various countries-cities including Paris in France...

Janhvi and Varun were made to read for their parts separately with director Tiwari, deliberately. “We’re like two opposites that attract and form a team. like maybe yin and yang.  But we really did go about this film as a team. There was a little method approach to it, like in the first half of the film, when my character is not so nice to her. When we were shooting in Lucknow, I didn’t interact much with her, I was a little cold to her,” Varun Dhawan has revealed to the news media.. As the film progresses, their relationship also goes thru twists and turns.

As practical prep for their unique film, 'Bawaal',.  both Varun and Jahnvi visited actual location sites associated with WWII, including the Anne Frank Museum, the Normandy beaches where the ‘D-Day’ landings took place, and the Auschwitz memorial. “That was something which was an eye-opener, and very terrifying to see what happened over there. So that helped us a lot to connect with World war,” Varun disclosed.

“We shot on the actual beach in Normandy where the Allied forces had clashed with the German forces. That was also crazy to be able to shoot in these historic sites – one thing is to read about it and another thing is to experience it in person,” Varun shared.

To avoid any post-release objections, the production submitted the “Bawaal” script to the Auschwitz memorial-museum in country Poland/, Dhawan said. “They were happy that we are in fact, doing something like that and letting people know about the kinds of atrocities that had happened and educating this part of the world on that because I also truly believe that what happened should never be forgotten, Varun Dhawan said.

The much-=awaited “Bawaal,” produced by Sajid Nadiadwala’s banner Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment in collaboration with Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari’s Earthsky Pictures, is avoiding a theatrical release and going digital-streaming OTT-zone  ( Amazon Prime Video)  “You have to make sure that you have a good film because here I don’t think a bad film can survive, to be honest. You have to be a very good film to thrive because it’s so democratic. The way things function here the word-of-mouth plays in even more,” Dhawan said.

In August, Dhawan commences his ( next) 18th film, as yet untitled, which will be directed by Atlee, ( who has directed the upcoming Shah Rukh Khan movie ‘Jawan)  ” “It has humor, romance, family, thrills, mass action, I think Atlee’s cinema is a genre in itself,” Varun shared.

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