Actor Varun Dhawan believes that there has been a decline in the number of commercial Hindi films largely because Bollywood is “influenced” by Western cinema to a great extent. He said the movie industry is in a transition phase during the pandemic, with everyone looking for movies that have done well at the box office.
He said: “To a large extent, we have stopped making masala family artists because we are heavily influenced by the West… At first, no one knows what kind of films will work. From the biggest producers to the people who do business. Until now, no one he knows”. And yet every week we’re going to go out there and make it known that it works, it works.”
Varun Dhawan said that the producer and her co-stars Anil Kapoor and Kiara Advani have always been associated with family entertainment as they too believe in the genre. Advani’s other theatrical release, the horror comedy ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ has become one of the biggest Bollywood hits of the year.
He said: “The world has changed, nobody knew that COVID-19 was coming. He hit us, everything went to hell. So you have to do what you believe. Dharma believes in family entertainment, Karan Johar believes in the genre, he always has. I believe in this genre, I’ve always made that type of film… my career is based on it. Anil Kapoor and Kiara also believe in it. It’s not like we’re doing it (for this).”
After Jugjug Jio, the 35-year-old actor has two movies scheduled: filmmaker Amar Kaushik’s monster comedy ‘Bhediya’ and Nitesh Tiwari’s love story ‘Bawal’. While ‘Bawal’ is still under construction, ‘Bhedia’ will premiere in November. The couple will be together again with producer Dinesh Vijan after their 2015 thriller ‘Badlapur’.
“From the wolf, one must expect the unexpected. She said that Amar will come back after ‘Stree’ and ‘Bala’, and I will come back after ‘Badlapur’ with Dinesh. He is someone who just wants to work with me on totally different and deeper ideas. This is our passion project and we are ready with that movie.
Without divulging any details about ‘Bawal’, the actor said he feels blessed to have had the opportunity to work with Tiwari. He said: “Phir Bawal Hai, one of my favorite directors, Nitesh Tiwari. I really wanted to work with him, but I didn’t know how I was going to get this opportunity. I feel very blessed that this has happened. I had an amazing time every day on the set, because he is such a nice and funny person.”
Varun returned to the big screen after two years of ‘Street Dancer 3D’ with Dharma Productions’ ‘Jug Jug Jio’. The Raj Mehta-directed, Karan Johar-backed comedy has grossed over Rs 60 crore at the domestic box office and over Rs 100 crore worldwide since its premiere on June 24.