Comic Convention

It took him almost a year to write the film,because it was his first attempt and he wanted to be very careful about getting all the minute details right. The story of Desi Boyz,however was inspired by what a couple of his film school buddies were going through when the world faced economic crisis. “The concept stemmed out of the conversation I had with them and then of course I decided to look at the situation humourously. I wanted to show how far unemployment can push people,” says the 30-year-old director.

Having a film lineage was advantageous for him as he found it easy to get a narration with actors. “But the advantage ends there. Gone are the days when actors did films for friendship. Today no actor will risk his career because of a relationship he/she shares,” he says. Despite that,Rohit managed to convince Akshay Kumar and John Abraham to play the lead roles in his film and signed Deepika Padukone and Chitraganda Singh opposite them. Being a first-timer,the tougher part for Rohit was being answerable to his team. “Every morning there were 90 people looking at me for an answer and to take all those decisions was tough,” he recalls. Writing the film too was a task for Rohit,who during the making found a lot of little glitches,which he hopes to undo in his next.

Though Rohit has his distinct way of filmmaking,inspiration from his father is inevitable. “I have been influenced by his work ethic and energy he exudes on sets. My dad is a man of few words—the only way to learn from him is by observing him work,” says Rohit who has already started his next script,which is an action film. Ask him if all he wants to do is commercial cinema,he is quick to retort. “Of course. Being David Dhawan’s son that’s all I can think of. Otherwise people might think I left home when i was young and became rebellious about my dad’s films.”