“Every time I was stressed, Karan Johar used to pep me” – Varun Dhawan

April 11, 2014 - 10:37 AM IST

Varun Dhawan is one relieved youngster. With his first solo release Main Tera Hero turning out to be a success and now marching towards the Rs. 50 croremark, Varun has good reasons to celebrate, something that he did during the party thrown by Ekta Kapoor on Wednesday night. As he takes a mini-break before stepping into the dark world being created for him by Sriram Raghavan [Johnny Gaddaar, Ek Haseena Thi], Varun gets into a quick tete-a-tete.

You must be overwhelmed courtesy Main Tera Hero is just your second film.
I am more overwhelmed by the fact that somewhere down the line people have 'forgotten' that this is just my second film. I was arriving amidst so many expectations which are usually associated with those who have a few films behind him. Guess this was due to names like David Dhawan and Ekta Kapoor involved, whose very presence made thisfilm big.

“Every time I was stressed, Karan Johar used to pep me” – Varun Dhawan

Were you scared of these expectations?
I was confident of the film but scared by the fact that during last few weeks so many films hadn't worked to the optimal. Some of these were good but then the numbers they earned weren't great. And here our film was coming with two major cricket matches on two out of three day weekend. Still, to manage such love right through the week is incredible. Today I can say that I am relieved.

What was the toughest part about doing the film which was as commercial as it gets but not quite projected as a quintessential 'masala' entertainer?
There have been 'masala' entertainers like Chennai Express, Rowdy Rathore and R... Rajkumar and frankly, it is very difficult to do what lead actors in these films did. For Main Tera Hero, it was about juggling many balls, be it comedy, drama, dance or romance without going overboard.

Well, talking about romance, you lived the ultimate fantasy of youngsters by romancing two girls at the same time.
(Laughs) Just to stand next to these two stunning girls and perform well was a challenge in itself. I couldn't have come across as any lesser and make people wonder what these girls saw in me.

How is your mentor Karan Johar reacting to his protege doing so well for himself?
He is of course thrilled. Even otherwise he has been quite amazing right through the shooting of Main Tera Hero. Every time that I was stressed, I used to interact with him, show him portions that I had shot for. He was a pillar of support all through and used to pep me up. His words mattered when he told me what was looking good about the film and which strengths should I play on. I am working with Dharma in Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya now.