Varun Dhawan

Life and career

Varun Dhawan was born on 24 April 1987 to David Dhawan, a film director, and Karuna Dhawan. His elder brother, Rohit, is a film director, while his uncle, Anil, is an actor. He completed his HSC education from the H.R. College of Commerce and Economics. Dhawan has a degree in Business Management from the Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom. Prior to his acting career, Dhawan worked as an assistant director to Karan Johar on his directorial terrorist drama My Name Is Khan (2010).

Acting debut and breakthrough (2012–2014)

In 2012, Dhawan made his acting debut with Johar's romantic comedy Student of the Year alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt. He was confident as Rohan Nanda, the teenage son of a rich businessman, who competes with his girlfriend (played by Bhatt) and best friend (played by Malhotra) to win an annual school championship. Film critic Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama found Dhawan to be "a talent one can't help but marvel at" and CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand added: "It’s Varun Dhawan who stands out with a confident, charming turn, able to tackle both comical and vulnerable scenes with ease". Student of the Year was a success, grossing ₹970 million (US$15 million) worldwide.

In 2014, Dhawan had two film releases. His first appearance was in the comedy Main Tera Hero (2014), a remake of the Telugu film Kandireega, which was produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and directed by his father. He played the leading role of Sreenath "Seenu" Prasad, an impetuous brat, who is in love with Ileana D'Cruz's character but is seduced by the character played by Nargis Fakhri. Raedita Tandon of Filmfare commended Dhawan on his comic timing and compared him favorably to Govinda and Prabhudheva.

Dhawan then played Rakesh "Humpty Sharma", a flirtatious Punjabi boy who engages in a romantic affair with an engaged woman, in the romantic comedy Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Co-starring Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Shukla, the film was described as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) by Johar, who served as producer. Rohit Khilnani of India Today praised Dhawan's screen presence, and Nandini Ramnath of Mint noted how much he stood out in the "few quieter scenes" of the film. Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania emerged as one of top-grossing productions of the year, earning ₹1.11 billion (US$17 million) worldwide.

Badlapur and beyond (2015–present)

The crime thriller Badlapur (2015) from director Sriram Raghavan saw Dhawan play a man who over the course of 15 years avenges the murder of his wife and son. Portraying the character was a "terrifying" experience for Dhawan, who "slipped into depression as after a point it no longer felt like I was acting in a film". Raja Sen of Rediff.com praised Dhawan's acting range, writing that he "sheds his easy-breezy charm — but, crucially, not his slightly hapless natural likeability — and bubbles up volcanically, his eyes frequently doing the talking." He received a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance.

Dhawan next starred opposite Shraddha Kapoor in a sequel to the dance film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance, entitled ABCD 2, in which he portrays the real life character of Suresh Mukund, a dancer from Mumbai who wins the 2012 World Hip Hop Dance Championship. Critic Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters criticised the film, finding Dhawan to be the only asset of the film, writing that "except for the honest note he strikes, the rest of the film could have been just a bunch of music videos". ABCD 2 earned ₹1.57 billion (US$24 million) worldwide; the film's commercial performance led Box Office India to consider it an emergence of Dhawan's star power. His final appearance that year was in Rohit Shetty's ensemble action drama Dilwale, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Kriti Sanon, in which he played the younger sibling of Khan's character. Despite negative reviews from critics, the film was a major commercial success and rank among the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.

Dhawan next starred in the action drama Dishoom (2016), directed by his brother Rohit, alongside John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez. He began 2017 by collaborating with Khaitan and Bhatt for the romantic comedy Badrinath Ki Dulhania, which served as the second installment of a franchise that began with Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. The film tells the story of an independent young woman (Bhatt) from rural India who refuses to conform to patriarchal expectations from her chauvinistic fiancee (Dhawan). The film as well as Dhawan's performance was particularly praised. Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express wrote that Dhawan "impresses as a boy-struggling-to-be-a-man". In addition, Tushar Joshi of Daily News and Analysis noted that "Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt prove that on screen chemistry can be enough sometimes to keep you engaged in an average plot with a predictable narrative". Both Dishoom and Badrinath Ki Dulhania were financial successes. As of January 2017, Dhawan has begun filming for his father's Judwaa 2, slated to release on 29th Sep, 2017. which is a sequel to the 1997 comedy film Judwaa, alongside Jacqueline Fernandez and Tapsee Pannu. He will also appear in Yash Raj Films' Sui Dhaaga directed by Sharat Katariya alongside Anushka Sharma. Another upcoming film by Varun Dhawan is titled 'October' which is scheduled to release in June 2018. The film will be directed by Shoojit Sircar and will be a slice-of-life romantic film. Actress Banita Sandhu will feature in the film opposite Varun.

Other work

Alongside his acting career, Dhawan performs on stage and has co-hosted two award ceremonies. In 2013, he performed at the Filmfare, Screen, and Stardust award ceremonies, and at an event in Hong Kong. He hosted the 2013 Stardust Awards ceremony with Sidharth Malhotra and Ayushmann Khurrana, and a segment of the 59th Filmfare Awards. He was also part of the 20th Screen Awards, co-hosting the show alongside Shahrukh Khan and Richa Chadda. In 2013, Dhawan performed at a special event alongside Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor and Huma Qureshi to raise funds for the flood-affected victims of Uttarakhand.