ANIMAL INSTINCT

HOTSTEPPER VARUN DHAWAN UPS HIS GAME IN HIS LATEST OUTING AND TALKS SHOP WITH ANURADHA CHOUDHARY ON WHAT LIES AHEAD AND LOTS MORE

- ANURADHA CHOUDHARY

There's something about Varun Dhawan that's different. I can't place my finger on it, at first. Yes, he's looking rested, looking dapper, looking good. But then he's a movie star. You expect that of him. There's therav, for sure. But there's more. There's more to Varun Dhawan than his quintessential movie star looks. Talk to him for a few minutes and you know, there are layers to the happy-go-lucky persona that we've all come to expect of him.

So we're sitting in his living room, comfortably ensconced on the sofa. He sits on his favourite rocking chair, enjoying his omelet. While his newly acquired beagle, Joey is happily exploring my ears. A friendly dog if I ever saw one. Just like the master. Varun Dhawan, who has Bhediya coming up, is in a reflective mood. Yes, he's excited about his movie. After all, he's given his all and more to the film. We do the regular movie talk and then the mood shifts. He talks about the need to back off from social media, to be less of a people pleaser, to give himself more credit for the things he's done. He talks about how he's looking within these days. Says Covid has changed everything and everyone.

And then he stumps me by saying that he's taking recourse into religion. He's reading The Mahabharata and The Bhagvad Gita... Yes that's what has changed about Varun...

He's thinking deeply... asking questions. He isn't dazzled anymore by decadent lifestyles or movie star appearances... There has to be more to life than that, he says. I agree. This is how the conversation flows then:

TO BEGIN WITH WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO BHEDIYA?

It was the wildest script that I've ever heard. I actually said yes to the film just based on the one line that Dinu (Dinesh Vijayan) told me on the phone. I just knew that Amar (Kaushik) was going to make it about a man getting bitten by a wolf.

AND BECOMING A WEREWOLF?