EXCLUSIVE: Varun Sharma EXCITEDLY speaks about Fukrey 3’s success; also says “Shah Rukh Khan aur Salman Khan khul ke pyaar karte hai; Salman sir remembers I did a role in London Dreams” 3 : Bollywood News

Varun Sharma has emerged as a huge crowd-puller thanks to the success of Fukrey. As Choocha, he has managed to amass a huge fan following and he’s the driving force of the series. Yet, he’s quite grounded and has not let success get into his head. The lovable actor spoke exclusively to Bollywood Hungama about the release of Fukrey 3 and a lot more.

EXCLUSIVE: Varun Sharma EXCITEDLY speaks about Fukrey 3’s success; also says “Shah Rukh Khan aur Salman Khan khul ke pyaar karte hai; Salman sir remembers I did a role in London Dreams”

Your mother stole the show at the Fukrey 3 trailer launch. Did she like the film?
She really enjoyed the film. She has been a fan of the Fukrey franchise. The film is as important for her as it is for me. It was her belief that her son could act, and it got translated into Fukrey. Hence, it’ll always remain special for us. As actors, you often get recognized. But she also started getting recognized. Once the film was out, she has been sending me pictures of her friends who went and saw Fukrey 3. Mummy meri asli PR hai bhai! Mere baare mein kuch bhi aata hai toh mere doston ko mere se pehle pata chal jaata hai, as she sends it to everyone on WhatsApp. I often tell her ‘Log irritate ho jayenge. Mat bheja karo’. But she says, ‘Main issi mein khush hoon’. She doesn’t understand box office numbers. But recently, she asked me, ‘Beta, tumhari film Rs. 55 crores kama rahi hai?’. I asked where she got the information from. She told me that a staff person sent a screenshot of some news article. In short, she has her trade network!

Did you go to the cinema halls to check the reaction?
I did. We went to a multiplex and on Sunday, we went to Gaiety. It’s every actor’s dream to be at Gaiety and watch their film with hundreds of moviegoers. It was almost full. 800-850 people were watching the film and the way they were enjoying the film was seen to be believed. Once I came out, I interacted with fans. I am glad I got the opportunity, thanks to Fukrey.

The film has a crazy plot. Your character, too, does the most outrageous things. How do the makers come up with such stuff?
If you like Fukrey and its characters, it is only because of Mrighdeep Singh Lamba. Choocha is 80% Mrig sir. He knows me more than I know myself. Hence, we just surrender to him. Also, he’s my Godfather as he gave me the break. Vipul sir (writer Vipul Vig) also played a huge role with his writing and wittiness. It’s all thanks to them. Also, it’s a wacked-out plot.

Yes, and equally crazy are your costumes. Your Kim Jong Un T-Shirt was memorable…
Yes. Then there’s a T-Shirt with my face on them, from Fukrey (2013) and Fukrey Returns (2017). In the earlier one, I am wearing a shirt with ulta leopard and ‘Coma’ is mentioned (referencing PUMA). And the leopard is comatose! It’s all his imagination.

I wonder how the narration must have been…
We were just flipping. We realized it was bigger, crazier and wackier. Fukrey 3 is the epitome of Fukrapanti (smiles). To pull it so convincingly, the credit goes to that man. It’s not easy.

The scene where you are roaming as a peacock is filmed in a real location in Delhi. Was it difficult to shoot?
I remember the time when we were shooting the first part in Chandni Chowk. We were standing and curious onlookers asked a crew member what was going on. He said that a film shoot is happening. When they asked him ‘Hero kaun hai?’, he pointed at us and said, ‘Yeh log hai’! They looked at us (in a puzzled manner) and were like, ‘Yeh hai?’. This time for the peacock scene, we shot at a real location. We had our own extras of 200-250 people plus a crew of 250 people. But when people learned that Fukrey 3 was being shot, 5,000 people rushed to the venue. Jo log aap scene mein dekh rahe ho, woh asli log hai. I was roaming around as a peacock, and they couldn’t stop laughing.

It was tough shooting it as you can’t manage 5000 people. We also had to be careful that my look didn’t get leaked. We took the mic and requested them that ‘aap shooting dekho aur maze karo. Lekin please record mat karna aur talkie shots mein silence rakhna’. They sweetly agreed.

What was the toughest part about playing Choocha in Fukrey 3?
There was a gap of 10 years between Fukrey and Fukrey 3. Life happened in this decade. I learnt about business, acting craft etc. When I was about to begin shooting for Fukrey 3, my friends used to say, ‘Bhai, Choocha toh teri ragon mein hai’. They assumed I could play Choocha even in my sleep. But it’s not that easy. If you see, Fukrey Returns was an extension of Fukrey while Fukrey 3 was an extension of Fukrey Returns. The timeline of the franchise is a maximum of 2 years. Lekin hum 10 saal bade hue hai. The biggest challenge was to unlearn those 10 years of life and be back to being amateur kids. It was tough to do so as to play an innocent 22-year-old as a 32-year-old could have gone wrong. Thankfully, Mrig sir exactly knew what he wanted.

Choocha and Hunni’s (Pulkit Samrat) bromance is also lovable…
I think by the end of it, we might get married. Bholi se ho ya na ho, Hunni-Choocha ki shaadi zaroor ho jaayegi!

A criticism against the film is that the toilet humour is a bit too much. Your thoughts?
I don’t think so. We all make (films) for families. We watch films with our families as well. We take this criticism in a healthy manner. At the same time, it’s about how you are portraying it. No one has told us ‘Yeh bahut crass lag raha tha’. It (toilet humour) was required. The concept is about Choocha popping in a diamond, he and Hunni getting electrocuted, and the mixture of sweat and pee turning into petrol. Hence, there will be stuff around that (toilet) as well. Most people, however, have liked it. It’s also got the best reviews out of all three Fukrey films. A lot of expectations were there. Even matching the earlier two films is a great victory for the makers.

Fukrey 3 ends with a hint that Fukrey 4 is in the offing…
Yes, and I hope we make it soon (smiles).

Choocha has won the elections in Fukrey 3. Can we see him as Chief Minister or the Prime Minister in Fukrey 4?
(Laughs) Then I don’t know what will happen to the country!

What do you think Choocha will do if he turns a CM or a PM?
I think he’ll make a rule. Jaise national holiday hota hai, waise hi national hour ka concept aayega. During this hour, you can’t watch TV or use your phone. You can’t even work. Iss ek ghante mein aapke aas paas jo bhi hai, usse baatein karni hai! In real life, we have stopped interacting. Implementation of such a rule will make our society happier.

You once said that Shah Rukh Khan told you that he loved Fukrey. You have also mentioned that Salman Khan hugged you after watching the film. Have they watched Fukrey 3?
Abhi tak toh nahin. I really hope they watch it. Shah Rukh sir aur Salman sir khul ke pyaar karte hai. Salman sir liked the trailer, and he even posted it. I can’t wait for their reaction.

Does Salman Khan know that the first time you ever faced the camera was for his film, London Dreams (2009)?
He knows it. And he still remembers that I did that scene.

You are credited as ‘Groom on horse’ on IMDb!
(Laughs) Yes! Years ago, he came to my hometown Jalandhar. I requested my father to take me to see the show. We went and I got a picture clicked with him. I showed that picture to him when we shot for London Dreams. He was very sweet and gave an autograph on the same picture. And then we went to promote Fukrey on ‘Bigg Boss’. I took both pictures with him. He remembers. He’s very loving and treats me like family.

It's great when actors you have admired and who have been your role models see your work and say good words. It gives you a lot of validation.

Ajay Devgn was also present in the scene in London Dreams. Is he aware?
I met him when we were working on Cirkus (2022). He had dropped in to meet Rohit sir. But unko nahin pata ab tak.

You have said that you would love to play a serial killer or attempt a genre away from cinema. Have you found any such script?
I’ll only do it when it comes from the gut. I often get told that I’ll get typecast. Lekin mujhe maza aata hai comedy karne mein aur logon ko hasaane mein. Nevertheless, there’s a constant lookout for a different genre. But I’ll not take something different for the heck of it.

Would you like to produce or direct films?
I’d love to produce. There’s a lot I need to learn. It’s not an easy task. I am gathering the knowledge. I’ll not even direction as I feel I’ll be bad at it.

Also Read: Fukrey 3 makers launch Choo CPT, an AI Chatbot based on Varun Sharma’s Choocha