Varun Sharma on being typecast: ‘Biggest thing is to get cast with big names’

Varun Sharma has said that he will not stop doing comedy films, even though people think he “is stuck with it”. Varun made his debut with Fukrey and has featured in several comedy films ever since.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Varun Sharma talked about being typecast in comic roles. He also said that during his theatre days, he always believed he could never make people laugh.

Varun said, “My answer for the longest time will be the same. I debuted with Fukrey and it became so huge. It gave us all a tag of cult. I like to make people laugh in all honesty. I never thought in my life I could make people laugh. In theatre, I used to do plays such as Ashwathama, Andha Yug and stuff like that…. very intense roles. Even the thought of attempting comedy was tough at the time for me. I thought it is the toughest thing to do, to make someone laugh.”

He added, “Fukrey was my first comedy film and I was like ‘wow, I can make people laugh!’. Even my family said ‘if you can make someone laugh, that is the biggest blessing, and through the biggest medium in the country’. I really enjoy it. I keep doing films in the same genre, but the attempt is also to do something different. For example, Chucha to Siddhu and Sexa… they are all different characters and have different arcs from each other.”

He also talked about working in the horror comedy, Roohi. “And then I could even romance a churail in Roohi. I mean, who gets to romance a churail and tell her ‘baby I love you’? So, I feel blessed and happy that I get these chances to do all these mad characters and make people smile and laugh. I would love to do this for the rest of my life. I think the biggest thing with actors is to get cast with big names, big directors and producers, typecasting comes much later,” Varun Sharma said.

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The Fukrey star added that he would continue doing comedy for his entire life. “People have often told me ‘if you keep doing comedy, you will get stuck with it’. I am like ‘this genre gave me everything. Now, just because people are loving me, should I stop doing it?’ For example, Chutzpah is a comedy but it explores a different world. I won’t ever stop doing comedy in my life.”

Asked if there is ever a time when he is not in the mood for laughs, Varun Sharma said, “Have you seen this flight which has a note written on the pilot’s door: ‘Please keep all your worries outside this door’. It is there because the pilot is responsible for the safety of all those passengers travelling in the plane. Of course, there are times when you have had fights, are not in a good mood. But, once someone told me ‘You know you had a bad day or had a fight but once this film releases after eight months, the audience will not see Varun. They will see the character’. We have huge responsibilities on our shoulders. We are faces of the hard work that goes in making a film.”

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Varun Sharma said, “There is an entire crew of, say, 200 people, the technicians and everyone else who put in so much of hard work, there is a lot of money riding on our faces and expressions. If we mess up, their hard work will be disregarded. It will be very selfish to say ‘I am not in a good mood, I am sorry it (sadness) is coming in my expression. When I step on the set, I turn into the character, I am no longer Varun. I might as well take a break and then come back if I cannot do that. No one is going to know what kind of day you had, it will all be about whether you made the audience laugh.”

Varun is awaiting the release of his upcoming show, Chutzpah, which reunites him with Fukrey co-star Manjot Singh. The show will also feature Tanya Manaktala who was last seen in Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy.