Director · Actor · Writer

David Dhawan

37 credited titles on WatchWise

David Dhawan (born Rajinder Dhawan; 16 August 1951) is an Indian director of Hindi films. Dhawan started off as an editor in Saaransh in 1984 before moving into directing. He specialises in directing comedy films. His 1993 film Aankhen, starring Govinda, Chunky Pandey and Kader Khan, was highly successful at the box office, and earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. Another successful film was Shola Aur Shabnam. His 2007 film Partner was successful. Dhawan is on the board of Asian Academy of Film & Television and Asian School of Media Studies where he has been honoured with an academy award by Sandeep Marwah.

David Dhawan in one minute

Upcoming

Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai

Budget ₹55 cr

Strongest genre

Comedy

₹551 cr · 88% hit rate

Biggest hit

Judwaa 2

₹290 cr

Standout efficiency

6.6x

Raja Babu · gross ÷ budget

Commercial performance

Associated lifetime gross

₹686 cr

Combined reported budget

₹244 cr

Gross / budget

2.8x

Bankability Index

49 / 100

All figures are associated, not attributed — box-office numbers are sourced from TMDB and Wikipedia (reused under CC BY-SA), shown in ₹ crore, and weighted by billing prominence. Coverage varies by title; figures are estimates, not audited trade data.