Another star kid is raring to make it big in Bollywood. Varun Dhawan’s niece Anjini Dhawan is all set to make her Hindi film debut with Binny And Family, also starring Pankaj Kapur,
Himani Shivpuri, among others.
In this interview with indianexpress.com, Anjini, 24, opens up about how it is growing up in a film family, which includes filmmakers David Dhawan and his son Rohit Dhawan, veteran actor Anil Dhawan, and the country’s heartthrob Varun Dhawan, and how she is preparing to tackle the nepotism debate that she’ll face soon.
Talking about her family dynamics, Anjini Dhawan says, “Honestly, everyone in my house is hilarious, so we are always having a good time and laughing. There is so much access for me to learn from them. There’s so much guidance and advice from such experienced people, something I am always grateful for.”
Anjini, as a part of her preparations, has attended acting schools. She also assisted David Dhawan on the Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan starrer Coolie No. 1 (2020).
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Talking about how she plans to cope with the nepotism debate, Anjini says it doesn’t bother her yet because she is living her dreams. “When I was doing my acting classes, I thought I was prepared, but soon realised that nothing can prepare you better than the actual moment. When you are on the set, facing the camera for the first time, you get thrown off, no matter how prepared and trained you are. Same thing with this, no matter how much people tell me, you can never be prepared until something really happens. I love what I am doing so much. I am living my dream, so I can’t complain. I am doing a film of a script I believe in so truly that I don’t think anything else would matter or bother me,” she said.
On being asked what was the one piece of advice she got from Varun Dhawan, David Dhawan and her grandfather Anil Dhawan, she says, “They just asked me to be honest and confident. They told me that the minute I read my lines, I have to be honest in my reaction, to myself, and to what I am saying. They say, ‘You have to believe in what you are saying, and you’ll be fine.'”
Anjini Dhawan also shared how she goes to Varun to get advice on marketing the film as he is “good” at it. She shares, “Now that this film is coming, I am always asking him for advice on marketing and PR. I try to understand how he thinks because he is someone who is so passionate about marketing and PR. He comes up with so many fun and interesting ideas and then we jam on it together. It’s always a great conversation and he always gives great advice.”
Anjini’s debut film Binny And Family is a coming-of-age story of two generations. In the movie, backed by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures, the young actress plays the role of Binny, a conflicted and rebellious teenage girl living in London. The movie revolves around how she initially finds it difficult to get along with her conservative grandparents (played by Pankaj Kapur and Himani Shivpuri) from a small town in Bihar, and how they all get along finally. When asked about how her relationship is with her grandparents, she opened up about her equation with Anil and Rashmi Dhawan. Anjini says that Anil, who has 40 years of acting experience behind him, is still open to feedback from her.
On growing up with “cool” grandparents Anil and Rashmi, she says, “My grandparents are the most chill grandparents ever. If anything, they help me out with my parents. My grandparents are more modern than my parents. They are cooler, they are way more with it. There are times when I go to them for help and they’ll scold my father, saying, ‘Don’t irritate my grandchild. Mind you business, go away from here.’ They are my saviours.”
Talking about how she discusses work with Anil Dhawan, Anjini Dhawan says, “I discuss work with him more than my parents. He understands me because he has been there, done that. I learn so much from him. He shares with me how his first film got shelved and he had to wait for so long for another opportunity. He understands how I must be feeling in this waiting period where it is about to come out but has not come out. He even has the script of his first film till today… 50 years later, he still has it with him. My dadi has shared her FTII notes with me. That’s where she and dada met for the first time. She was 17-18 years old then and her notes are so helpful.”
“My dada, even today, if he is testing or screen testing for a project, he’ll always ask me for my feedback. He shows me auditions he gives for ads and asks me, ‘What do you think, Anjini?’, and he is open to my feedback. If I tell him, ‘Dada, I think you can do better,’ then he takes me seriously and asks me how I think he can make it better, what he should do differently. He is always extremely open to feedback. Everyone in my family is like that, no one shuts me down because I am young. I have an opinion, a voice, and it is well considered,” she concludes.
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