Let’s keep things healthy: Varun Dhawan
The actor says as a newcomer, he possibly saw only the “positive side” of things, but feels after a few years “reality hits you”
Clearly, he is riding high on back-to-back hits. So, if Varun Dhawan tasted a huge success right at the start of 2017 with Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Judwaa 2 ensured that the year ended too, on a sweet note for him.
Although cut-throat competition and oneupmanship have become part and parcel of the entertainment industry, Varun doesn’t think so. The Dishoom (2016) actor feels there’s no way one can “move ahead” if “we go against each other” or derive “happiness from other people’s mistakes.”
Ask him if any particular incident triggered such a profound thought, and he says: “No, there hasn’t been any such incident in particular. I guess it (the thought) just came from seeing how the past two years have gone by (for the industry). Maybe I have spent more time in the industry to see such things.”
Varun also feels as a newcomer, he possibly “just saw the more positive side of the industry.” He adds: “But as you move ahead, reality hits you. I see this happening all the time, with us actors and even journalists. So, if they [journalists] say anything, they get a negative feedback and that shocks me.”
He points out how fans of various actors “fight with each other”. “How is someone doing well affecting another person? Clashes (at box office) used to happen in our industry earlier also, but it was always healthy. I feel it should never get ugly. If you look back, there was a clash between Lagaan and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha in 2001, but it was all healthy. We have to understand that we are eventually working towards the same thing,” he says.
Talking of ‘healthy’ results, Varun has had a great track record with his directorfather, David Dhawan, starting with Main Tera Hero (2014) and now Judwaa 2. “Visà-vis Judwaa 2, what’s amazing is that you hear of directors adapting (their own) films in different languages but after such a big gap — 20 years to be precise — no director has come back again with his own film. At least I don’t remember any. I don’t know any director who is as coherent and connects so well with today’s youth as my dad does,” he says.
At the same time, Varun admits that things are “absolutely the same” at home when it comes to his equation with his father and elder brother, Rohit Dhawan. “My house is run like that; it’s the same the way it was. Yes, now, I do a few things such as sending my parents for holiday or buying a car. But I still don’t pay for small things, and I still take money from Rohit. And he always gives me money,” says Varun.
Yes, now, I do a few things [differently] such as sending my parents for holiday or buying a car. But I still don’t pay for small things, and I still take money from Rohit. VARUN DHAWAN, ACTOR