Nitesh Tiwari’s film Bawaal, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, which is all set to drop on Prime Video, pits apathy against empathy with a relationship at its core. In a conversation with Bombay Times, the director tells us that his layered drama is contemporary and relevant.

It’s a layered piece and a contemporary relationship film. In the world that we live in, negativity spreads faster today. I wanted positivity to stand a chance. Bawaal is about love versus hatred, empathy against indifference and fake versus real. There are characters in the film fighting an internal war. How does that get juxtaposed to World War 2, is what the film is all about. WW2 plays a very important role in the movie and you cannot keep the holocaust away from WW2. It does play a very important role in the film. ‘Bawaal’ here is external and internal. We have become too indifferent in life. There’s a lot we can learn from this movie, most importantly to have empathy. That is what makes us human and keeps us alive, to be able to feel the pain of strangers. Those who don’t have it are self-driven and won’t feel much for their loved ones either.

Varun plays a history teacher called Ajay Dixit. He is somebody who isn’t very serious about his job, the kind of relationship he shares with his parents and wife. What impact that one piece of history (WW2) has on all these aspects is what you see unravelling. As far as casting is concerned, when my writers and I sit to write, we don’t keep any actors in mind. I don’t want to be guided by my perception of what a certain actor or actress is capable of doing when I write, as you tend to write to their strengths. I prefer to write first and then think of actors who can be moulded into these characters. There are more chances of surprising the audience with the freshness these actors can bring to the story. That is exactly what happened with Bawaal also. I go for people who I believe are strong performers. We wrote Ajju and Nisha, the characters needed a certain physicality as well and the names that popped in our heads were Varun and Janhvi. I wanted Ajju to be flashy and bombastic. Someone who wants to show off their body in tight shirts, he is dominating. Nisha is strong but slightly more vulnerable, who speaks through her eyes.

Intense preparation and one on one interactions between the artistes and me helped. A lot of comfort was established when we got talking. I believe in doing a lot of prep so on the day of the shoot everyone knows what exactly they are supposed to do. There is no pressure then. We just need to give our best shot. I told Varun what movies he can watch or the actors he can refer to or learn from. We then spoke about his character. He is not what he is in the film and that's the hallmark of a good actor. You need to look convincing in characters that are nothing like you.

Same goes for Janhvi. She is nothing like Nisha in real life and yet she transformed on screen. Both didn't want to stop at just being good, they wanted to be better. At times even when I was okay with a take, they would say can we do it again? I am very happy when my actors are this passionate and want to add that extra value to their characters. I love to have these democratic discussions on set and hear different opinions and points of view. I am happy to embrace suggestions that I feel can help my characters. This process brings out the ease you see on screen. Both Ajju and Nisha are not linear characters. They are complex people who go through a fascinating journey that changes their lives. They understand each other as people better eventually and both actors have given their best.

It’s such a lovely coincidence. I am so looking forward to watching Oppenheimer, I have been waiting for it for a very long time. I hope people are looking forward to Bawaal as well. I think we are in for a feast this week as movie lovers. There's Oppenheimer, Barbie and Bawaal. We started Bawaal with the aim that it would be a theatrical release, but things changed over a period of time. Once we showed the film to people, everyone thought it would be better if we could show it to a wider audience across the world which was possible through OTT.