Varun Dhawan went against the chocolate boy, romantic hero image that he’s known for after films like Student Of The Year, Main Tera Hero and Humpty Sharam Ki Dulhania to take on the bearded 40-year-old look of an intense and angry Raghu in Sriram Raghavan’s revenge vendetta Badlapur. The actor admits it was a risky and unconventional choice to make so early in his career. He says, “You wont see me dancing and jumping in the film, but you will find an emotional connect with my character.” As for taking a risk, Varun says everyone including his producer Dinesh Vijan and director Sriram Raghavan “went into unchartered territories. They could have gotten any other actor but they trusted me to play this character.”
For Varun, Badlapur was an intense journey, he says, “It took me a while to get out of that negative zone Raghu (his character) is in. I had met people who lost their loved ones and were grieving and psyched myself to be in that character so much so that people in my personal life were wondering what was wrong with me.”
The actor says ABCD 2 helped him get out of the dark frame of mind he had gotten into while playing Raghu in Badlapur. “It was tough to get out of the character but I guess the heavy physicality required to dance for ABCD 2 and the lighthearted nature of the film helped me to get out of it.”
With Badlapur opening to rave reviews, Varun’s hard work seems to have paid off.
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