‘Salman Khan is charging Rs 10 cr, Govinda is taking Rs 5 cr and only their legs are being shown?’: How David Dhawan changed choreography of ‘Soni De Nakhre’ | Bollywood News
Writer Alok Upadhyaya, who has worked with filmmaker David Dhawan on several films, spoke about his experience collaborating with him on Partner. Alok shared that as a filmmaker, David is very intolerant of errors his actors and always tries to get the maximum out of the A-l stars who headline his films. “He would panic if the actor wouldn’t perform well,” Alok shared.
The writer also revealed how David would always keep in mind how to fully milk the star power in his films. “David Dhawan meets all expectations in terms of a filmmaker of commercial cinema. While shooting, all things like editing and other aspects would go on in his mind simultaneously. He knows everything about cinema. His aim was always to make the film better commercially,” he told Lightscameramasti.
Sharing an example from Partner, when the film’s stars Salman Khan and Govinda were shooting for the song “Soni De Nakhre”, he said, “During the shooting of the song, the choreographer had set 2-3 long shots. David sahab came to me and said, ‘One actor is charging Rs 10 crore, the other Rs 5 crore — that’s Rs 15 crore standing there, and only their legs are being shown. Shoot a close-up of both Govinda and Salman.’”
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Alok added, “David sahab got impatient and called the choreographer over, saying, ‘You’re shooting Rs 50 worth of flower pot, Rs 10 of decoration. My film won’t mint money with these things. Jo Rs 15 crore ke do khade hain, unke close mar (The two who are charging Rs 15 crore — take close-up shots of them).’” he then told the two actors to step in and do their own thing, leading to close-up shots as they both make faces at the camera.
Partner was an official remake of Will Smith starrer hit comedy Hitch. The film was critically acclaimed and a box office success. It starred Salman as Govinda’s love guru and also featured Katrina Kaif and Lara Dutta in lead roles.
