Varun Dhawan about social networking online; and he has enuff dos and don’ts that his growing fan ‘gurlz’ would like to undo

‘Most actors are narcissistic, I don’t want to be one’

...says filmmaker Karan Johar's smouldering discovery, Varun Dhawan about social networking online; and he has enuff dos and don’ts that his growing fan ‘gurlz’ would like to undo

Varun Dhawan

Don’t go by his intense looks... No, do go by his intense looks when you meet Varun Dhawan, who already has girls rooting for him before his first film Student of the Year hits the screen. He’s one newbie who comes with a motley of film influences — one that’s rooted in David Dhawan’s family, discovered by Karan Johar, set to debut in a campus romance and inclined to watching dark, edgy films. In short, the kind who's likely to say, ‘I breathe, eat and perhaps, laze (around with) films!’
Varun, who makes it a point to watch every movie, did not think he’d be an actor. “I watched films more from a technical point of view. Of how a filmmaker conceives a shot, his thought process. In fact, I began assisting Karan only to understand filmmaking as an insider. I didn't have a clue that he was planning a film,” says the newcomer, who told his father he wanted to be an actor only when he was sure of it. So, why didn’t his father launch him? “Why would he? My father never launched anyone. He never had a banner and always focussed on making films.”
That his family keeps him grounded is revealed in nuggets like the time he’d spent in watching films of Dev Anand and Sanjeev Kumar with his mother, or the fact that his father does not like him going out at nights. “I don’t drink or smoke, but I like going out as I love observing people — their mannerisms, the way they dress, speak, things like that. And it need not only be at parties,” he shares.
The actor, who’s a die-hard Christian Bale fan and swears by the film American Psycho, is clear that he ‘wants to do films that connect with the audience’. Isn't that too heavy a reminder for a 25-year-old at the onset of stardom? “Maybe it’s the rains that’s doing that to me (laughing). But seriously, one can’t afford to be immature in showbiz. I don’t want to get into any kind of distraction, even things like social networking and chatting. I have had my share of it,” he laughs. Not even for some ego trippin’ to find what netizens have to say about him? “No, not at all. As it is most actors are narcissistic, I don’t want to end up as one,” he grins, adding, “Besides, internet is different — it’s too intense and vocal in its likes and dislikes. You have to be an Aamir Khan to unite such a diverse world online.”
Currently, Varun can’t stop raving about actor Nawazuddin and is crazy about “the films being made today, but it just needs to be nurtured at the grassroot level.” Ask him what it is like to romance Alia Bhatt, his first heroine on screen? “Why Alia? Why don’t you ask me about Sidharth (Malhotra)? He’s a co-star too,” he dodges. “We fight a lot on the sets, nothing serious. But Alia is beautiful, sexy and a very good actress,” he adds, smiling.