Producer VashuBhagnani lashes out at director David Dhawan over Coolie No. 1 losses

The producer held a press conference on Friday to address his dispute with David Dhawan; he also opened up about the losses he suffered after Coolie No. 1.

Things don’t seem to be alright between producer VashuBhagnani and director David Dhawan. Bhagnanihas now publicly lashed out at Dhawan for reusing the track ‘ChunariChunari’ in the director’s upcoming film ‘Hai JawaniTohIshqHona Hai,’ which stars VarunDhawan, Mrunal Thakur, and PoojaHegde.

VashuBhagnani takes sharp digs at director David Dhawan.

Speaking emotionally about the project, Bhagnani said he had trusted David Dhawan completely with the film’s production and finances. According to him, he remained only a “namesake producer” while the director handled most of the decision-making. The producer claimed that the film caused losses of nearly ₹27 crore and alleged that he paid David Dhawan close to ₹70 crore for the project, an amount he said was “not even his worth.” Released during the COVID-19 pandemic on an OTT platform, Coolie No. 1, starring VarunDhawan and Sara Ali Khan, received poor reviews from both critics and audiences. The remake struggled to match the popularity of the original cult comedy and quickly became one of the most criticised Bollywood releases of that period. Bhagnani also expressed disappointment over what he described as a lack of concern from VarunDhawan regarding the financial damage caused to the production house. ‘Biwi No. 1’ Becomes New Point of Conflict. The controversy deepened after Bhagnani objected to the recreated use of the iconic song ChunariChunari in the upcoming film Hai JawaniTohIshqHona Hai. Bhagnani claimed he had earlier discussed plans with David Dhawan to revisit or remake Biwi No. 1, the 1999 comedy starring Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen and Karisma Kapoor. According to him, discussions around the project continued for months before eventually stalling. He also alleged that the new film appears to share similarities with Biwi No. 1, which added to his frustration.

VashuBhagnani spoke about the losses he suffered after Coolie No. 1 flopped.

During the press conference, Bhagnani said, “It was the time of COVID and David ji told me, ‘Aapkajobhinuksaanhuahai, we’ll take care of it in future. Let’s start Biwi No 1.’ Accordingly, we worked on Biwi No 1 for six months. One day, RohitDhawan told me that the script is not ready. Since I started my creative work, I decided not to hurry. Aaram se picture banatehai (Let’s make the films at a relaxed pace)… I suffered a loss of ₹27 crores in Coolie No 1. Varun never even bothered to check ki uncle kanuksaanhuahai; kaunpoorakarega?” (How much loss did I bear? And who will pay for it?)