Varun Dhawan

At 36 years old, Varun Dhawan has this physical status:

Career

With Johar's teen film Student of the Year alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt, Dhawan made his acting debut in 2012. Rohan Nanda, the teenage son of a wealthy businessman who competes with his sister Shanaya (Bhatt) and his closest friend Abhimanyu Singh (Malhotra) to win an annual school championship, was empathetic. "It's Varun Dhawan, who plays with a confident, charming presence, who is able to tackle both comedy and vulnerable scenes with ease," film critic Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama said. The year's student of the Year was a huge success, grossing 1.09 billion (US$14 million) worldwide, and his appearance earned him a Best Male Debut nomination at Filmfare.

Following a year absence from film, Dhawan appeared in two films, the first of which was the Telugu film Kandireega, which was produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and directed by his father David. He played an immature brat who is embroiled in a love triangle. Filmfare's Raedita Tandon praised Dhawan for her comedic timing and compared him favorably to Govinda and Prabhudheva. The film made worldwide sales of 780 million Indian rupees.

In debutante writer-director Shashank Khaitan's debutante writer-director Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Dhawan played Rakesh, a sexy Punjabi boy who participates in a romantic affair with an engaged Punjabi woman. By Bhatt, a co-starring Bhatt, the film was dubbed as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), who was a producer. Rohit Khilnani of India Today lauded his screen presence, while Nandini Ramnath of Mint reflected how much he stood out in the film's "few quieter scenes." Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania emerged as one of the year's top-grossing Indian exports, grossing 1.1 billion (US$14 million) globally.

Badlapur, a crime drama starring Sriram Raghavan, saw Dhawan play Raghu, a father who avenges the murder of his wife and son over the course of 15 years. Portraying Raghu was a "terrifying" experience for Dhawan, who "fell into depression as a result of a time when it no longer felt as if I was acting in a film." Raja Sen. Rediff.com praised his acting range, noting that he "sheds his simple-breezy charm" but not his slightly hapless natural appearance — but more importantly, his eyes often do the talking." He was nominated for Best Actor for his role.

In a Walt Disney Pictures-produced sequel to ABCD: Any Body Can Dance, in which he portrayed the true-life character of Kings United India founder Suresh Mukund, a dancer from Mumbai who went on to win the 2012 World Hip Hop Dance Championship, Dhawan appeared opposite Shraddha Kapoor. Reuters analyst Shilpa Jamkhandikar slammed the film's decision, stating that "except for the honest note he strikes, the remainder of the film may have been nothing more than a series of music videos." ABCD 2's global sales earned it £1.67 billion (US$21 million), a record that Box Office India considered it a reemergence of Dhawan's fame.

In which he played Khan's younger sibling, Dhawan's last appearance of the year was in Rohit Shetty's ensemble action drama Dilwale, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Kriti Sanon. Despite mixed critiques from critics, the film was a commercial hit, grossing over 3.75 billion (US$47 million) worldwide, making it Dhawan's biggest-grossing Bollywood film and one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films. He appeared in a debut Indo-Emirati cop in Dishoom (2016), directed by Rohit, alongside John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a hit at the box office, grossing over 1.2 billion (US$15 million) worldwide.

Dhawan reunited with Khaitan and Bhatt in the romantic comedy Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), in which he played the titular role, a chauvinist fiancé to Bhatt's character. Dhawan, according to Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express, "impresses as a boy-struggling-to-be-man." In addition, Tushar Joshi of Daily News and Analysis said, "Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt's on-screen chemistry would be sufficient to keep you interested in an average plot with a predictable story." At Filmfare, he received his second Best Actor award for the film. He appeared in his father's Judwaa 2, a reimagining of his 1997 Salman Khan film Judwaa, alongside Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu. Both Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2 were commercial successes, grossing over 2 billion (US$25 million) each. Forbes revealed that with nine consecutive box office hits and a 100 percent success rate, Dhawan had established himself as a "bona fide Bollywood superstar."

In 2018, Shoojit Sircar's drama October and Sharat Katariya's social problem film Sui Dhaaga had two premieres. When his coworker goes into a coma, he played Danish Walia, an aimless hotel management trainee whose life undergoes a series of shifts in October. Anna M. Vetticad of Firstpost lauded Dhawan for "effac[ing] his character and trademark cuteness to play Dan"; Rohit Valiant of Hindustan Times said this to be his best show to date, but "his humour is innate, but his knowledge of pain and how it impacts human behaviour is even better." Sui Dhaaga introduced Dhawan and Anushka Sharma respectively as Mauji and Mamta, a young couple in rural India who begin their own small-scale clothing business. "Dhawan has developed a blueprint for playing a simpleton," Udita Jhunjunwala of Mint wrote. He has a similar naiveté to Mauji, though not endearingly." He was nominated for the Best Actor award in October for his October work.

In Abhishek Varman's ensemble period drama Kalank, where he was once more paired opposite Bhatt, Dhawan's sole screen appearance in 2019 was on screen. The film, set in the 1940s, featured him as a womanising blacksmith; for the physical demands of the role, he trained extensively and insisted on doing his own stunts. "Dhawan exudes enthusiasm as he ventures well outside of his comfort zone and consistently hits the right notes," NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee wrote. He began the new decade by reuniting with Kapoor and D'Souza to perform an arrogant British-Indian dancer who leads the titular crew of the dance film Street Dancer 3D (2020), which Namrata Joshi of The Hindu called a "compilation of indistinguishable performances." Both Kalank and Street Dancer 3D did not do well commercially, causing his career to suffer a setback.

Dhawan returned to Coolie No. 3 for a third time. 1, a 2020 version of the Govinda-star 1995 film of the same name, which was streamed online on Amazon Prime Video, skipping theatrical releases. The film's critical and public reaction to it was generally critical, largely because of the nepotism controversy owing to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express called the film a "zero wit, no flair" disaster, noting that Dhawan had "channelled Govinda in several of his films much better."

In Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022), a comedy-dramatic drama about two couples in a Punjabi family falling away from stale friendships, Dhawan appeared alongside Kiara Advani, Neetu Kapoor, and Anil Kapoor. Monika Rawal Kukreja, a writer for Hindustan Times, praised him for his "bringing [being] a complex person."

Dhawan will be starring Sanon and directed by Amar Kaushik in Dinesh Vijan's horror film Bhediya. He will then appear in Nitesh Tiwari's action film Bawaal opposite Janhvi Kapoor. Dhawan will appear in the Indian spinoff to the American drama series Citadel, which will be produced by the Russo brothers and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.

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