Happy Birthday Varun Dhawan! Decoding the Success Formula of the Superstar Who is Loved By Both Masses and Critics

We had seen that spark in him when he made his debut in 2012. The spark of being the next superstar who can take find a seat for himself, if and when the three Khans plan to leave the throne. For Varun Dhawan had potential and we saw that in Student of the Year. And now 6 years later, he has turned that spark into a passionate raging fire and is now considered as one of the most consistent actors at the box office, if not the most. So what has been working for him, that has made Varun the box office prince he is now?

Before we check out how it clicked for him, let's see why Varun Dhawan is called the most successful actor at the box office. Since his debut movie, Student of the Year worked at the BO (even though it is Karan Johar's least successful movie), Varun Dhawan has rarely delivered a box office disappointment. Sure, Dishoom did underperform and Dilwale was not the blockbuster that everyone expected it to be, but they weren't outright flops. The fact that he call pull off hits as a solo male lead, be it Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Judwaa 2 show that Varun has a dedicated fan-base. Even though October is underperforming at the box office, the fact that it still made more than Rs 30 crore despite being an offbeat cinema, establishes the power of Varun at the BO.

So what is Varun Dhawan's secret? For a Bollywood fan, Varun Dhawan is essentially a complete package that they look for in a Bollywood hero. Varun Dhawan is handsome, he had a great physique and he is a good dancer as well. Above all, he is an adept performer and has a great sense of comic timing, with the added benefit of being very congenial to his fans. His debut movie itself showed off his best traits, It is these qualities that has endeared Salman Khan to his fans, and that's why Varun is often considered as a worthy successor to his idol. Personally, I feel that Varun is a better performer than Salman, no offense to all Bhai fans!

What worked best for Varun is his movie selection. I don't know who manages work for him, but there are some really good strategies in place when it comes to choosing the right movies at the right time. After Student of the Year came out, Varun chose his father's movie, Main Tera Hero as his second film. Now David Dhawan's movies are mostly known to click with the masses as they are packaged as entertainers. They have helped in enhancing the stardom of Salman Khan (Biwi No 1), Akshay Kumar (Mujhse Shaadi Karoge) and Govinda (plenty) in the past. That's exactly what Varun Dhawan needed at that stage of his career, and the success of Main Tera Hero brought Varun closer to the front-benchers.

For his third movie, Varun stayed with Dharma Productions to play the lead in Humpty Sharma..., a hit that established his popularity as a star. When the critics felt that he can only play a massy hero, Varun took on Sriram Raghavan's Badlapur. Playing an anti-hero in the dark thriller was a huge risk for Varun Dhawan, especially since he was to play a man who ages from his '20s to '40s and was pitted against a fantastic actor like Nawazuddin Siddiqui. But hey! Varun Dhawan didn't play spoilsport; in fact, he shows that he was equally adept in portraying the darker nuances of a character than in making faces and getting us to laugh. Surprisingly, Badlapur was a hit too!

In the road ahead, Varun did play safe with his choices, as his immediate focus was on cementing his stardom. He chose to be the lead in ABCD 2, where he relied on his more than competent dance skills. The movie benefitted from Varun and Shraddha Kapoor's stardom and was a bigger hit than the first movie. His subsequent releases like Dilwale, Dishoom, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2 were entertainers that were made to appeal to the masses.

And when the critics began to question if he is aping Govinda and Salman Khan to make his career, Varun Dhawan went ahead and did October, a movie that reinvents the actor in him. His career-best performance as Dan in the movie silenced all his detractors (including yours truly) and he deserved to enjoy all the plaudits he was getting from the movie's critical acclaim.

Now that he has silenced the critics, Varun is playing smart again. Instead of going back to doing massy entertainers, he has chosen a mix-n-match choices for his future movies that don't have anything to do with the likes of Judwaa 2. With Sui Dhaga, he chose to work with YRF for the first time (great career move, BTW) and the movie is about 'Make in India' initiative. So expect the government to support the movie. His two movies with Dharma, Kalank and Ranbhoomi, are two movies with different sense of appeal. Varun is returning to shaking his leg for Remo D'Souza's next after Race 3, and thanks to the success of the ABCD franchise, we know that dance movies with stars are loved by the public. In short, there is a very negligible chance that Varun might fail ahead!

Yeah, he might have had that added advantage of being a starkid, but the fact that Varun Dhawan is loved by both masses and critics prove that his hard work, talent and dedication have also played a long way in making him a successful star today!

BTW Happy Birthday, Varun Dhawan!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2018 12:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).