David Dhawan (born Rajinder Dhawan; 16 August 1951) is an Indian director of Hindi films. Dhawan started off as an editor in Saaransh in 1984 before moving into directing. He specialises in directing comedy films. His 1993 film Aankhen, starring Govinda, Chunky Pandey and Kader Khan, was highly successful at the box office, and earned him his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director. Another successful film was Shola Aur Shabnam. His 2007 film Partner was successful. Dhawan is on the board of Asian Academy of Film & Television and Asian School of Media Studies where he has been honoured with an academy award by Sandeep Marwah.