VARUN DHAWAN HAS AN INNOCENT SIDE TO HIM: DIRECTOR SHOOJIT SIRCAR

The filmmaker admits he had never thought of casting the actor, as he had preconceived notions about him

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who teamed up with actor Varun Dhawan for the first time in his forthcoming film October, revealed that he was not on his casting list at all. The filmmaker, says the actor was accidentally cast in the film. “The entire 2016 he (Varun) was calling me to meet. He was accidental as a cast. We were looking for fresh faces. When he came over, I saw a different side of him. I had pre-conceived notions about him, the commercial world he was living, stardom and all. But I saw innocence in his eyes. There was something boy-ish about him, something pure,” Shoojit said.

“You have to surrender yourself to the director. Varun did that, which was difficult for him. But brave of him to come from that world to our world and surrender,” he added.

The director said he was so impressed with Varun that he immediately clicked his picture and sent it to film’s writer Juhi Chaturvedi to tell her he had found their ‘Dan’ (Varun’s character in the film). “He was very clumsy when I saw him. I needed an actor like that. When I clicked his picture and sent it to Juhi, she said I never thought you’d be even thinking of casting Varun. It was in her mind too but she said she didn’t have the guts to tell me that!” he said.

The director is all praise for Varun, but admits he was not wellversed with the actor’s work. “I’ve already said sorry to Varun because I’ve not seen a single one of his films. So I don’t know who he was. I knew that he was jumping around the place, singing, dancing and full of energy. I actually didn’t have any clue who he was. Our planets don’t match at all. He is from Mars I am from earth,” he said. Shoojit Sircar, who will be venturing into period drama with biopic based on revolutionary Udham Singh, said that he will not take liberty with the subject until he can authenticate it. “I will take the liberty as to what I can authenticate as that person, not to sell my film,” Shoojit said. He also added that sometimes Bollywood directors take unnecessary advantage of their situation as a filmmaker. “I will not compromise anything just for the sake of commercial pressure. I will be as genuine as possible,” he added. Bollywood recently saw controversies related to period drama films that included Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone starrer Padmaavat and then Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika. —