Govinda is known for his his long list of memorable movies and dancing skills in his career. The actor is also known largely for his association with David Dhawan as those movies are considered iconic today. Former CBFC Chief, Pahlaj Nihalini has produced movies like ‘Aankhen’ and ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ which starred Govinda. In a recent interview, he spoke about his association with the star and revealed what damaged his career. He also opened up on how Govinda is really naive and believes what people tell him. He said during a chat with Vickey Lalwani, “Govinda was an all-rounder. He handled his career very well but because of his weakness, he trusts people easily and the atmosphere around him isn’t good, that’s why he wanders away. He keeps the company of pandits (astrologers, fortune tellers) and the atmosphere he has around him and what he believes in. But people don’t take those conversations seriously. These types of conversations and this aura are damaging for his career in the film industry.”He added that Govinda stopped working with him due to David Dhawan. He said, “David Dhawan had filled Govinda’s mind with poison against me.” Further recalling what went wrong between him and Dhawan, Pahlaj spoke about ‘Aankhen’. “The story was mine, screenplay I had written, dialogues were written by Anees Bazmee, and I would also record the songs and shoot them. So David was only there to shoot the scenes. In fact, he was even absent for 27 days while shooting the climax. He came to Mumbai to shoot for another film. I did all the leftover work. I shot most of the action sequences. In all our films together, he did this.”
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He said he didn’t get upset as David wasn’t present for 27 days of shoot. Nihalini explained, “I wanted a dummy director. Though he got the director’s credit, but as a producer, I was a big name so I didn’t care.”He further said, “The story was mine, screenplay I had written, dialogues were written by Anees Bazmee, and I would also record the songs and shoot them. So David was only there to shoot the scenes. In fact, he was even absent for 27 days while shooting the climax. He came to Mumbai to shoot for another film. I did all the leftover work. I shot most of the action sequences. In all our films together, he did this.”Nihalini also added that Govinda was so naive, he was made to feel that Salman Khan and Dhawan helped him by casting him in ‘Partner’. He said, “Govinda is so naive that in Partner, David Dhawan wanted only Govinda to play that character, but it was claimed that David and Salman helped Govinda during his career slump. But Govinda got so emotional and woh itna nasamajh hai. They acted like they are obliging Govinda but they actually wanted only him to play that role.”
