Varun Dhawan has hit the big screen running with his latest film, Badlapur. Bollywood Hungama’s Joginder Tuteja and Subhash K Jha look at what the actor takes on in this movie and his next project
Barely six months after his very successful Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya, Varun Dhawan (pictured) is back on the big screen in a diametrically opposite role.
With the dark setting that director Sriram Raghavan has created for Badlapur, Varun will be seen in a very different avatar.
Even as his face-off with Nawazuddin Siddiqui is much-awaited in this dramatic thriller which has also shaped up as a musical, considering its chartbusting tracks, Varun bares his heart out about the film which he admits has drained him.
Bollywood Hungama’s Joginder Tuteja posed a few questions to the actor:
I am sure when you picked this film some people must have said that was risky to step out of your comfort zone.
Many people said that, but honestly, I didn’t deal with them. I just told them that I wanted to do the film. I made my own decision.
So when you went ahead with the decision, how did you find being in a dramatic set up?
For a very long time I wanted to get my hands on a dramatic script. It doesn’t mean that the drama had to be over the top or melodramatic; it had to be in its truest form which went well with the subject in question. The kind of tension that you see in Badlapur is unparalleled. When I heard the script was at that level, I was amazed. And then, when I got to know that it had happened in real life to someone, I was totally bowled over.
Considering the fact that Sriram has made dark films like Ek Haseena Thi and Johnny Gaddaar that were much acclaimed, did that make it easier for you to pick Badlapur?
I knew for sure that he wanted to make a good film. I think everyone who came on board, be it Dinesh Vijan or Sunil Lulla, carried the idea of making a good film.
Other than Divya Dutta, you have a lot of ladies around you in the film, be it Yami Gautam, Huma Qureshi or Radhika Apte. How does this combination play in the film?
I feel these young women are really brave. The way they have performed their roles, they have demonstrated themselves as true actors. I hope the audience sees integrity in their performance. My relationship with each one of them is very different in the film. We meet at certain points in time during the film’s narrative. In real life, these girls were far more mature than I, even though they are my age.
In Badlapur, Dhawan plays a real-life criminal from central Europe who went on a vendetta after his wife was murdered. Bollywood Hungama’s Subhash K Jha reports that in his next film too, Varun plays a real-life character. In fact, he’s been spending a lot of time with a young dancer named Suresh from Nala Sopara.
Varun plays Suresh in Remo D’Souza’s ABCD 2. The inspirational dance film is based on the true-life story of four boys – Rohit, Pavan, Suresh and Vernon – who are part of a dance institute named the Fictitious Dance Academy.
D’Souza said: “I thought I had exhausted my appetite for a dance film when I made ABCD. But then I came across the real-life story of these boys from Nala Sopara who went all the way from their home town to win a dance show in Las Vegas and I knew I had to tell their story. Pavan, Rohit, Vernon and Suresh are in the cast of ABCD 2. And yes, Varun plays Suresh.”
Varun, a redoubtable dancer, has spent time with Suresh to understand the mind of a dancing wizard who had the guts to dream of the sky.
Says D’Souza: “I chose Varun because I needed someone who could dance. And I mean, really dance. I also needed a very good actor since the character’s journey is not only about dancing but also his aspirations and dreams. It wouldn’t have been enough for my protagonist to simply be a fabulous dancer. The actor also had to express Suresh’s feelings.
“Varun is a dancer and an actor. I am convinced he will bring Suresh to life. He had better, since the real Suresh is also in the film,” he laughed. – bollywoodhungama.com