"I'm going to remake Amar Akbar Anthony," reveals the man who launched a thousand laughs.
"If Farhan and Ramu can remake their favourite films, why not me? I've been living with the idea of doing my own Amar Akbar Anthony for years.
Manmohan Desai was my guru. I learnt filmmaking from him. And my style of filmmaking is akin to his. I kept postponing my dream project. But now I'm going to do it within a year."
How about Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna and Ranbir Kapoor in the roles immortalised by their fathers Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor?
"Nothing as gimmicky as that! My cast will be completely different, though unlike Ramu's Sholay, my film won't have newcomers; I'll work with established stars.
My only problem is, where do I relocate the original plot? Ramu is taking Sholay out of Chambal valley into Mumbai. AAA is situated in Mumbai. Where do I take it?" he wonders.
Says Dhawan, "This will be the guru dakshina to my Dronacharya. Manmohan Desai was the guru of entertainment.
You can see shades of his humour even in my latest film Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya."