EXCLUSIVE: Nitesh Tiwari on why he opted for World War 2 and not Indian history for Bawaal, 'We planned but..'

Bawaal, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, released digitally on Amazon Prime Video. The trio graced Pinkvilla with an exclusive interview of theirs.

By Rishil Jogani

Updated on Jul 26, 2023 | 12:03 AM IST | 222K

Nitesh Tiwari, Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor

Nitesh Tiwari shares why he chose World War 2 as the backdrop of Bawaal & not Indian history (Credit: Nitesh Tiwari Instagram, Amazon Prime)

Bawaal, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor has released on Amazon Prime Videos. The film based on the backdrop of World War 2 has created a lot of discussion on social media due to its theme and nature. To address it and to talk about other important facets of their film Bawaal, the trio graced Pinkvilla with an exclusive interview of theirs, hosted by Himesh Mankad.

Nitesh Tiwari Shares Why He Chose To Go Ahead With The World War 2 Backdrop And Not Something Directly Pertaining To Indian History For Bawaal

In an exclusive Pinkvilla interview with Himesh Mankad, Bawaal director Nitesh Tiwari was asked about why he chose to go ahead with the backdrop of World War 2 and not something directly pertaining to Indian history for Bawaal. He answered saying, "There are two aspects to this. One is very personal and one is purely creative. When we started writing this whole arc of these two characters, something which came to us was also that it can be set up against our own historical backdrop also, because you know the journey remains the same. When you visit these places and you experience those moments, it has some impact on you. And our thing was that some really terrific movies have already been made on lot of our own historical backdrops and we could go ahead with it and do that but would we be presenting something visually fresh to our viewers? One of my objectives is always to bring something that has not been seen before. And incidentally, in one of our earlier drafts, there was a Jallianwala Bagh incident too which was there in the screenplay and there was a reason for it to be there too. And then Shoojit da (Shoojit Sircar) made such a beautiful movie (Sardar Udham Singh). Then we said that it (a movie on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre) has already been done but World War 2 was still there. So we decided to take it in the World War zone because whether it happens here or there, emotions are universal. You connect with the people. You connect with the events. It changes you. Whether it happens here or anywhere else. So that was the whole objective with which we approached it."

Nitesh Tiwari Talks About A Scene In Bawaal's Earlier Draft

Nitesh Tiwari went on to talk about what his earlier draft, centered around the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. He said, "In that draft, there is a time when he (Ajju Bhai in Bawaal) goes and has a chat with his father. You know he says, 'Hum toh sirf teacher hai. Hum apne job mein khushi kaise dhundhe?' and the father says that, 'Main toh bank mein kaam karta hoon. Lekin jab main dekhta hoon ek maa ko paise nikaalte hue, toh mujhe aisa lagta hai ki woh shayad apne beti ke education ke liye nikal rahi hai paise. Jab main dekhta hoon ek baap ko paise nikaalte apne account se, toh mujhe lagta hai ki shayad woh apne bete ke career ke liye paise nikaal raha hai.'..You have to find happiness in your job. You have to find happiness in your relationship. You have to make an attempt that what you are teaching, have you ever felt it? Your experiences are only based on your bookish knowledge...So that's how some things were included over there but later on we made it to World War 2. And we changed his (Ajju Bhai in Bawaal) character arc also."