Student Ready for Higher Studies

Student Ready for Higher Studies • And the Parts Go to? • Studio Spendthrift

Versatility and range may not be the qualities one immediately thinks of when discussing Varun Dhawan, but the actor appears determined to change that perception. He followed up his debut in Karan Johar’s Student of the Year with his father David Dhawan’s Main Tera Hero, and single-handedly turned that film into a bonafide box-office hit, revealing a natural flair for slapstick comedy that many likened to Govinda’s in his heyday. Close on the heels of that came Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania with his SOTY co-star Alia Bhatt, another breezy romantic comedy that also made all the right noises at the box-office.

But he follows up those films with a pivotal role in Ek Hasina Thi and Johnny Gaddar director Sriram Raghavan’s next, Badlapur. The film, a thriller featuring an ensemble that includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi and Vicky Donor’s Yami Gautam, wrapped production last week, but is likely to hit the screens early 2015.

The 27-year-old star told me he committed to the film the minute Sriram offered it to him, “but I had second thoughts right away because I really wasn’t sure I could pull it off”. Didn’t help that the director had lined up solid actors like Nawaz and Huma to work with Varun. “I literally had nervous pangs the first few days of filming. I’d seen Gangs of Wasseypur and I knew what I was up against,” he admitted. He eased into the character and the film gradually “because Sriram was very patient with me”. Varun says he found his feet roughly a week into the shoot “and from that point on, I didn’t have a moment’s doubt that I’d made the right decision”.

No one associated with the film will say much about its themes or its plot, but this is the same film Sriram originally hoped to cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in, opposite Varun. The actress turned it down, allegedly because she didn’t want to play a “grey” character, and because she wasn’t particularly keen on making her comeback in an ensemble project.

And the Parts Go to?

The moment Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty announced that they were collaborating on a remake of Ram Lakhan, fans began suggesting casting ideas on social media platforms. Since Rohit had revealed he was keen to work with a young cast, SOTY stars Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan’s names have cropped up most frequently, and insiders at Karan’s Dharma Productions reveal it could well be the two up-and- comers who’ll take the roles Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor played in Subhash Ghai’s 1989 original.

But it’s hardly any secret that Gunday star and fellow up- and-comer Arjun Kapoor counts Ram Lakhan as one of his favourite films, and that he even does a perfect impression of his chacha Anil from that movie. Apparently Arjun has already reached out to Karan offering himself up for the Lakhan role.

The other pivotal part that must be cast is the one Raakhee played in that superhit melodrama. Tabu has shot down rumours that she will take the role, or that she was even offered the part. The buzz is that Karan will likely approach his Jhalak Dikhla Jaa co-judge Madhuri Dixit to play mum, and Juhi Chawla’s name has also cropped up. But don’t be surprised if Kirron Kher, or even Amrita Singh (hot off the raves she received for her 2 States performance), is eventually cast. Good luck trying to convince Madhuri or Juhi to play mother to the likes of Sidharth, Varun or Arjun!

Studio Spendthrift

According to the grapevine, a prominent studio head is peeved with a director whose next film his studio will release. Turns out the filmmaker has been deflecting attention from the fact that his latest film has gone over budget by giving examples of other as-yet-unreleased films whose budgets also bloated considerably during production. One among these, an example the filmmaker has cited frequently, is the remake of a Hollywood film starring two heartthrob stars. That film, incidentally, will also be released by the same studio, and the honcho is not pleased that the director repeatedly brings it up.

Both movies are important projects for the studio in question, and the big-shot exec would rather that the industry discuss something other than the money riding on these two. But how to get others to lay off his expensive mistakes when one of his own directors won’t give up the habit first?

Alia BhattSidharth MalhotraVarun Dhawan