Varun Dhawan is one of the most popular young actors in India
Having made his Bollywood debut under Dharma Production’s and Karan Johar’s directional ‘Student of The Year’ in 2012, Varun Dhawan is now one of Bollywood’s most popular actors. The actor delivered 11 consecutive box office hits between 2012-2018. He is one of the most promising actors from the Bollywood film industry.
Varun Dhawan’s first film ‘Student of the Year’ which also starred debutants Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra was a huge commercial success and the most popular movie of the year. He then starred in his father David Dhawan’s comedy romantic directional Main Tera Hero, which though opened to mixed reviews and somehow managed to perform well at the box office.
Varun Dhawan successfully managed to display his acting skills in Sriram Raghavan’s directional action thriller Badlapur. Badlapur also starred Nawazuddin Siddique, Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Divya Dutta, Vinay Pathak, and Kumud Mishra among others. Post Badlapur, Varun Dhawan starred in many comedy and romantic movies such as Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Dishoom, Diwale, ABCD 2, Judwaa 2, Coolie No.1, Kalank and October.
Varun Dhawan’s last release was a romantic drama film titled ‘Bawaal’ produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film also starred Janhvi Kapoor, Manoj Pahwa, and Anjuman Saxena. Nitesh Tiwari earlier directed Aamir Khan’s widespread critically acclaimed movie ‘Dangal’ and late actor Sushant Singh Rajput starred and the National Award Winning Film ‘Chhichhore’. Owning to Nitesh Tiwari’s glorious portfolio many had expected Bawaal to be a spectacular and diverse film. Though Bawaal opted to skip the theatrical release and took the OTT route to release their film digitally on an online streaming platform, the film still managed to become one of the most-watched movies of the year with critics praising the performance of Varun and Janhvi Kapoor.
Post the COVID pandemic and lockdown, Varun Dhawan starred and released two of his most important films in 2022 and fortunately, both of his films managed to perform well at the box office and entertain the audience after facing a deadly pandemic.
His first release of 2022 was a comedy-drama film titled ‘Jugjugg Jeeyo’ directed by Raj Mehta and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. Jugjugg Jeeyo was released on 24 June 2022 with mixed to positive reviews with critics praising the story, direction, screenplay, and performance of the cast. Jugjugg Jeeyo performed amazingly well at the box office because it was a post-pandemic release. The film starred an ensemble cast of Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Manish Paul, Tisca Chopra, and Prajakta Kohli.
Varun’s second release of 2022 was a horror comedy movie titled ‘Bhediya’ produced by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films and directed by Amar Kaushik. Amar Kaushik earlier directed Stree (2018) for Dinesh Vijan’s production house Maddock Films. Bhediya is part of Maddock Film’s Maddock Supernational Universe, a film franchise with comedy and horror movies. Films under the Maddock Supernational Universe are Stree (2018), Roohi (2021), Bhediya (2022), Munjya (2024) and the upcoming Stree 2 (2024). Bhediya was released on 25 November 2022 to positive reviews and was highly hailed for the performance by Varun Dhawan, Deepak Dobriyal, Abhishek Banerjee, and Paalin Kabak. The film also starred Kriti Sanon as the female lead. The film was also praised for its VFX, screenplay, story, and graphics.
Varun Dhawan’s next and upcoming release is an action film titled ‘Baby John’. The film is an official adaption of Atlee’s 2016 Tamil blockbuster film Theri which starred Vijay and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Atlee is one of the co-producers of the film besides Jyoti Deshpande and Murad Khetani. Today, Atlee is the most demanded and popular director in the country post the mammoth success of his previous direction ‘Jawan’ which starred Shahrukh Khan in the lead. The expectations are sky high from Baby John and Varun Dhawan. The film also stars Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Malhotra, Rajpal Yadav, and Sheeba Chaddha. Baby John is a nonsense action and massy film which is going to present Varun Dhawan in a never seen before avatar. The film is set for a theatrical release on 25 December 2024 during Christmas. Baby John is directed by Kalees.
The actor and his wife Natasha Dalal were recently blessed with a baby girl on 3rd July 2024.
Besides Boby John, Varun Dhawan has another big and one of the most important projects of his film career releasing in 2024. It’s a web series that is set to release on Amazon Prime Video. Varun Dhawan with Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead is all set to star in a spin-off of the American TV series Citadel (2023) which starred Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra and the Russo Brothers as the executive producers. Citadel: Honey Bunny (2024) Hindi is directed by the king of OTT’s brother duo Raj & DK. Raj & DK are the directors of some of the most amazing shows made in India such as The Family Man, Farzi, and Guns and Gulbaabs. Citadel (Hindi) is set to be out in 2024 or early 2025. Besides, Varun and Samnatha, the series also stars Sikander Kher, Kay Kay Menon, Saqib Saleem, and Emma Canning.
Post Baby John and Citadel: Hunny Bunny, Varun Dhawan will begin the shooting for Karan Johar’s upcoming comedy romantic film titled ‘Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari’. Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari is directed and written by Shashank Khaitan and also stars Janhvi Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra, and Rohit Saraf besides Varun. The film is set to release in 2025. Shashank Khaitan earlier directed Varun Dhawan in Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Janhvi Kapoor in her Bollywood debut film ‘Dhadak’.
Varun Dhawan is also shooting for another romantic comedy film directed by his father David Dhawan. The film is titled ‘Hai Jaawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’. The film also stars Mrunal Thakur and Sreeleela as the female leads.
Overall, Varun Dhawan is having a good time with quite a few big hits delivered in the past decade and a few promising releases ahead.