When Aankhen released on April 9, 1993, its director, David Dhawan, and one of the lead actors, Govinda, were in Bengaluru, shooting for another project. But, little did they know that the film had broken all records!

“Pahlaj Nihalani (producer) called me and said ‘You don’t know what this film has done’,” recalls Dhawan, adding, “Isse pehle aisa success dekha hi nahin tha.”

The filmmaker returned to Mumbai a week later. “From the airport, I directly went to a theatre where my film was being screened, and I was taken by surprise. There was chaos! The press was present, everybody wanted a picture of me. I could not believe it, as I had never experienced stardom of this level. Later that evening, there was a party. Every senior of mine congratulated me. I had tears in my eyes ,” shares Dhawan, adding that he has “never looked back” since that day.

“I started getting so many offers to direct films. People’s attitude towards me, the budget of my films, my dynamic with the [film] industry, all of it changed. Usse pehle kya haalat thi meri, mujhe hi pata hai. God gave me the right film at the right time,” he ends.

----------------------------------------------

Filmmaker Anees Bazmee, the writer of Aankhen, says filming began sans a bound script in hand. He tells us, “Humare producer, Pahlaj Nihalani sir, chhadi lekar kaam karne wale the... Poori film set par likhi gayi thi.”

Bazmee then recalls how actor Shakti Kapoor’s character shaped up: “David Dhawan wanted to film the villain’s sequences and would question me about it. David ke darr se main gaon chala gaya! I wanted to have a strong negative character, as comedy films back then did not have a strong crime angle. But, I got a good idea and came back to write. It is my best script ever,” he shares, adding how writers today are “insecure” when it comes to writing a comedy.

“Whatever comes naturally will always be better than thinking a hundred times about sounding funny,” he adds.