‘It felt dangerous’: Govinda reveals why he walked away from David Dhawan, says Varun Dhawan can’t recreate their magic | Bollywood News

4 min readNew DelhiMar 5, 2026 01:33 PM Back in the 1990s, actor Govinda and filmmaker David Dhwan shared the kind of partnership that would have surely made their peers envious. The actor-director duo were known for making some of the best comedy films of the era and had a smooth working relationship, until it all fell apart. In a new interview, Govinda spoke about that era and said that David was always very honest about his work, but suggested that he wasn’t loyal towards the actor, which probably led to their eventual rift. He also said that he might try to recreate his success with his son, Varun Dhawan.
In a chat with Siddharth Kannan, Govinda said that David’s biggest quality has always been his honesty. “He is honest. But in the film industry, honesty has a different place but if your loyalty is with someone else then your honesty will struggle,” he said and added that despite that, the two managed to create some of the best films that had a “natural feel.”
“He would understand. He never told me that I am not looking good or maybe we can do better so I never felt like I was working with a director. I never felt like he was a stranger. But I did feel that others were trying to restrain him but because of his honesty, he was very sincere,” he said.
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Govinda said that there is a difference between getting along and not clicking with each other and as soon as he felt that things were out of control, he wanted to get out of their collaborations. “Aisa laga ki yeh khatarnak ho gaya hai mamla, ab isse hum bahar niklein (It felt like things were dangerous, so it was time for me to get out),” he said and added that even after this, they had a word. Govinda shared that since he started his political career in the early 2000s, he was away from films for a couple of years but as soon as he got back, David was his first phone call. They met and discussed Partner, where Govinda suggested that they should cast Salman in the lead role. The film was a hit and marked David and Govinda’s reunion after a long feud.
Since then, the two have never worked together. Govinda said that David might try and recreate the same magic with his son Varun Dhawan. He said, “Mujhe aisa lagta hai ki shayad hi uske bete ke sath yeh aisi filmein kar payega ya itni filmein kar payega. It’s tough. (I think he might be able to do these many films with his son. It’s tough.)”
Govinda and David made films like Hero No 1, Haseena Maan Jayegi, Raja Babu, Saajan Chale Sasural, Aankhen, Coolie No 1, Kyo Kii Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, among many others. David has remade Coolie No 1 with Varun, which was released during the pandemic. David is now looking forward to the release of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, which stars Varun with Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde.Story continues below this ad
In an earlier chat with the YouTube channel Timeout with Ankit, Govinda’s wife Sunita Ahuja said that David wanted Govinda to play “secondary roles” in the latter years of his career. “Maybe Govinda didn’t like the idea of being a second lead, because in the 90s he only delivered solo hits with David. So maybe he couldn’t take it, that ‘why should I be second to Akshay or whatever’, so they had differences on that. I don’t think David was wrong and Govinda was also right in his place, because he had never done a second lead role before,” she said.
Govinda and David’s fall out came out in 2014 and in 2015, the actor blamed the director for not standing him during his bad patch. In 2023, Govinda announced that they had now patched up.