Good movie needs emotional director: David Dhawan

One of Bollywood's most successful comedy makers directors, David Dhawan, says a filmmaker has to be emotional to make a good movie. He also admits to getting stressed even now before the release of each of his films.

'If you don't know how to cry or laugh, then you can't understand the audience. The goodness has to be within you to come up with something exciting. A good movie should have the right mix of emotions, backed by a powerful script,' Dhawan told IANS here.

Dhawan's upcoming 'Do Knot Disturb' is again a lighthearted romantic comedy that stars Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta and Sushmita Sen. It is scheduled for a September release.

He is also working on another project titled 'Hook Ya Crook' that stars John Abraham, Kay Kay Menon, Shreyas Talpade and Genelia D'Souza.

After teaming up with stars like Govinda, Anil Kapoor and Salman Khan in several hits, Dhawan now wants to make a movie with animals as protagonists.

'I love animals and I want to make one movie with them. I have always wanted to make a movie with animals, but for that you need a trained animal and lots of patience too,' said Dhawan, who used a chimpanzee in 'Aankhen' and a dog in 'Biwi No.1'.

He confesses he was under extreme stress before the release of his first hit, 'Shola Aur Shabnam' (1992).

'I must admit that 'Shola Aur Shabnam' was my last chance to prove myself as a director. I had given a series of flops before the film.... and I had no clue what I would do if the movie would fail at the box-office,' said Dhawan.

'When the film was released, I was under extreme pressure and nervous too. My condition was so bad that I was shivering and my wife had to give me brandy to put me to sleep. But when I got a call at 5 a.m. from a film critic who told me that my film in not just good but too good and a hit, I was relieved. After that I never looked back,' he added.

After the success of the Govinda-Divya Bharati starrer, Dhawan gave a series of hits like 'Saajan Chale Sasural' and 'Deewana Mastana', 'Biwi No.1', 'Jodi No.1', 'Hero No.1' and 'No Entry'.

But even after so many hits, Dhawan gets nervous before the release of his movies.

'For every film of mine, I'm nervous. I hide myself in the editing room because I have raised the level of people's expectations...What bothers me mostly is whether audience will like my movie or not, whether my movie will make them laugh or not.

'Sometimes you have to outdo your own projects,' said the director.

Post-'Shola Aur Shabnam', the Dhawan-Govinda combination was seen as a sure shot success at the ticket window. But the director has also churned out hits with other stars like Anil, Salman and Sanjay Dutt.