>> FILLING SALMAN KHAN’S SHOES,

Recently, your friend Arjun Kapoor jokingly told us: ‘everyone’s films should do well but his should do a bit better than others’… Main woh bhi nahi bolunga (I won’t even say that); I hope that others’ films perform even better [at the box office] than mine. So, be it Arjun, Sid (Sidharth Malhotra), Ranbir (Kapoor), Ranveer (Singh), Sushant (Singh Rajput), Aditya (Roy Kapur), Ayushmann (Khurrana), Rajkummar (Rao) or anyone else, I hope everyone’s films perform better than mine. There’s no reason for anyone to feel and believe that they shouldn’t [do well]. Coming to Judwaa 2, many felt that you were possibly the best choice from among the newage actors to fill Salman’s shoes... Honestly, I don’t know how to react to it. Now, things are the way they are. Audiences have given the film and the story a lot of love. For me, that has worked more than anything. We kept the heart and soul of the original film as well as what Salman bhai did — as Raja and Prem — intact. We were clear that it should be a reference point when people watch how I portrayed the same characters. Personally, what was the biggest takeaway for you? The director of both the films was the same and, for us, that was the biggest thing which got accepted. People wanted to see the magic of a David Dhawan film and his style of entertainment again. That came back automatically. I feel once entertainment is accepted, then the actors are just by-products. All in all, this year, it was a new take at the whole thing (the storyline). If people have accepted it, that means they have not just accepted me, but the film too. Trade experts feel that with Judwaa 2, audiences have again taken up masala entertainers in a big way… I feel a very good thing that has happened with Judwaa 2 is the positivity and happiness that has come into the audience. I feel the same when people come and talk to me. There was a dip [in positivity] and more of negativity around us, which has gone now. There was negativity in general towards films. Even if good films were coming out, people weren’t going to the theatres and that’s why the collection didn’t reflect that. Even if people watched the films, they went in limited numbers.

Varun Dhawan