In love with a chudail and loving it? Well, that’s Varun Sharma for you

Sheetal

"The wait was long but it was worth it,” says actor Varun Sharma while summing up his excitement for his upcoming movie Roohi, releasing in theatres on March 11. The film stars Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, Varun Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi and is directed by Hardik Mehta.

It was the combination of laughter and fear which drew Varun closer to this project. He says, “I became a fan of the genre after watching Stree. I was looking forward to do something as quirky as Stree. So, when a project of similar kind from the same production company, Maddock House, came my way, it was hard to let go.”

More the merrier

After Stree released in 2018, there has been a slew of horror comedies, including Laxmii, and upcoming projects as Phone Bhoot, Bhoot Police, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, besides Roohi. Varun, however, is not scared of the competition. "There is no fear as such. It is a new genre that got explored widely through Stree,” says varun.—IANS

Praising writers Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra for creating his character, who is in love with a chudail, Varun adds, “It wasn’t easy to portray the madness Kattani’s character (in Roohi) who falls in love with a chudail. To portray something which was hard to explain in a layman’s term was the biggest challenge but the details in the writing helped me make it believable, genuine and intriguing for the audience.”

It was a fabulous experience working with Janhvi Kapoor for the first time. Roohi being the second outing with Rajkummar Rao, the first one was Dolly Ki Doli, our connection and chemistry has only grown. Both Bhawra (Rajkummar’s character in Roohi) and Kattanni were kind of roles where it was important to feed off each other’s energy and hopefully the madness that we put in while filming it would come across on-screen as well. We all know Rajkummar Rao is a phenomenal actor but at the same time pulling off two stark opposite characters, Janhvi has done a convincing job.

Drawing parallels to his previous roles, be it Chucha from Fukrey or Sexa Singh in Chhichhore, Varun says, “I am blessed with characters with this unexplainable atrangi love chemistry and the streak continues with Kattani in Roohi.”

A natural in his comic self, the biggest takeaway from 2020 and the pandemic was not to be on the run all the time. “We stop spending time with ourselves and with our family. And I am going to do this a lot more from this year. The hustle and bustle of work will always be there and is an no excuse not to sit back and reflect on your life.” Varun calls the phase when Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide a tough one, and adds, “I was taken aback and it is something we cannot come to terms with even now. I grew silent and was just absorbing all that information.” He had worked in Chhichhore and Raabta with the late actor.

In the upcoming projects Varun is currently shooting for Cirkus, directed by Rohit Shetty and stars Ranveer Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Pooja Hegde alongside him. After that he will be gearing up for the third installment of his debut commercial success, Fukrey.

When it comes to Punjabi films, Varun says he is open to it and has no language barrier or apprehensions to work in a Pollywood project. In fact, he would love to work in regional movies.