Varun Dhawan on box-office success: ‘Expected Bhediya to do numbers than it did’

After completing 10 years in the industry as an actor, Varun Dhawan has a mixed result for 2022. Both his films, Jugjugg Jeeyo and Bhediya, haven’t had the reception that that one would expect with them before they released. Jugjugg Jeeyo, directed by Raj Mehta, dealt with marriage, divorce and difficult family relationships, while Bhediya had him transform into a werewolf. (Also read: Bhediya movie review: Varun Dhawan-starrer is high on comedy and novelty)

But the actor insists that these are the films that fulfil him creatively nevertheless. Varun had a bit of a slowdown during the lockdown when only the Coolie No. 1, directed by his father, filmmaker David Dhawan, released on Prime Video in December 2020. In an interview, the actor said, “When the lockdown happened, I hit a roadblock. I was burnt out. I felt my choices have to be films that I am [creatively] satisfied with. [The reason to do them] should not be that I have dates available.” He added, “I waited a long time to sign Jugjugg Jeeyo, Bhediya, and Nitesh Tiwari’s Bawaal. So, 2022 has been one of the most satisfying years creatively. As an actor, I am the proudest of these three films.”

However, he did admit that he expected the horror comedy Bhediya to perform better than it did at the box office. Director Amar Kaushik’s previous outing in the genre, Stree (2018), had been an unexpected success. Varun told Mid-Day in an interview, “It has been such a strange year, [with films] trying to get people back to theatres I expected Bhediya to do [better box-office] numbers than it did. Having said that, I am grateful that people have seen the film in cinemas, and its [collection] is higher than that of many. It tells you that you should try and do better.”

The actor, who made his debut in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year (2012) with Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra, also spoke about his choice to take on unconventional stories like he did with Sriram Raghavan’s Badlapur (2015) and Shoojit Sircar’s October (2018). Varun shared, “Honestly, when I have to cut down my price to do these films, I will do it because a film calls out to [the artiste] in you. Similarly, when I have to do a Bhediya, or movies that have a larger vision, I’ll make it in a certain way. My approach is simple — we should make a good film, and the producer should not lose money. Box office is important, but sometimes, I want to do movies because they are unmissable for the actor in me.”