Varun Dhawan: 'Nepotism Exists In The Industry'

The guy Karan Johar launched, the younger son of David Dhawan, and the youth icon who millennials find aww-dorable has another ace up his sleeve—he speaks straight from the heart. Presenting coverboy Varun Dhawan in his playful-meets-philosophical avatar as he chats with Tanya Chaitanya on life, love and how eventually the final judgement on an actor can only come from one place—the audience.

- Tanya Chaitanya

For somebody who believes he’s too non-serious to be a filmmaker, actor Varun Dhawan does a fine job of directing this interview. We are on a long-distance, crackle lea-minute call even as the man-child coughs incessantly. This ‘I’m-30 but-nobody-can-tell’ youth icon wants me to say it upfront that even though he was that unwell, he stayed professional to the core and delivered this interview on time despite extreme odds. That’s not it, the readers should also know that he coaxed me to write it exactly so in the first place.

(Varun, I said what you wanted me to and I don’t believe for a minute that you won’t take to direction the way your dad David Dhawan and brother Rohit Dhawan did—effortlessly.)

Now that the premise is suitably set, Varun Dhawan, who, at the time of this conversation, was in London for a 40-day outdoor for Judwaa 2, talks about why he’s the perfect fit to reprise this ’90s cult double role. That twinkle in his eyes, his impish grin and comic onscreen timing come naturally; he’s a born prankster. Here’s another episode starring his chest congestion.

“Let’s say my tryst with mischief started early. I was in standard 6 and there was a new, slightly nervous teacher who had joined our school.

A wager had been laid that a student should walk up to him and say a bad word out loud. I went up to him in front of the class, cleared my throat, and mumbled about wanting a glass of water. He asked me to speak up, and I shouted, ‘F*&k off’. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that ensued. I looked at the aghast teacher’s face and repeated, ‘For cough.’ He didn’t realise, but the bet had been aced.”