Today is Varun Dhawan's birthday and he is now 33 years old. When he debuted in 2012 with Student Of The Year, people weren't too sure of his calibre as SOTY has an ensemble cast. While Alia Bhatt became one of the bests that we have in the industry today, Varun has slowly and steadily proved that he is a strong crowd-puller. At a time when Bollywood was reeling under sub-par box office outcomes, his one movie release made a huge difference to the treasury. No wonder he is seen as the most bankable actor of his generation. Varun Dhawan to Star in the Remake of This Thalapathy Vijay-Atlee Blockbuster?

We know you will argue his last couple of films range from being absolute duds to average spinners. True, Kalank, October or Street Dancer 3D may not have been supreme blockbusters but even then, Varun has a far better track record than many who debuted around the same time. He delivered 5-6 hits in a row...how many can promise that today?

Now the question is what makes him tick. What magic does Varun Dhawan spin which others of his ilk fail to conjure up?  We tried to find a few of the reasons which can explain why he is a box office genie.

#Knowing the audience

Many actors figure out pretty late in their careers what the audience actually wants from them. But in Varun's case, he knew right from his second film, Main Tera Hero, what his fan following expects from him. Be the star of the masses has always been his goal and he does that pretty well. Speaking to Filmfare he had said, "I do mass entertainers to please my audience." He does more than just please them.

#A Risk-taker

Despite being an actor who loves to play to the galleries, Varun doesn't shy away from experimenting. We would have never expected him to do Badlapur after Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania or do no dance number in October or be this very timid guy in Sui Dhaaga. Yet he did it all. Badlapur is one of the hits of his career. That builds credibility which aids him to make people watch a film just because Varun is in it. Now that's a huge achievement in present times when you have so many talented commercial actors around.

#Kids friendly

Kids in India get a raw deal when it comes to movies. While Hollywood has a dedicated genre, kids here grow up watching movies with adult stars in the lead. A Krrish is not enough to satisfy this demography and that's where Varun's films come in. His dance moves, action sequences, comic timing...everything resonates with the kids. He now has one of the envious following in kids. So if they demand to watch his movies, they will be at the theatres with their parents. The movies cut across demographies.

#Money spinner

Varun has often been accused of doing potboilers. What people forget is to make an industry run you need the big bucks and Varun can ensure that. We will need an alternative to the Khans in the future and Varun forms a perfect match. In 2017, when movies of the Khans (Raees, Tubelight) were not soaring, one Judwaa 2 set the tone right for the rest of the year. Such young blood is needed for Bollywood to keep the shine on in the future as well.

#More films but not too many

Varun knows that there is hunger in his fans to see him more yet he likes to keep it to two films a year. Only in 2019, he had just one release in Kalank. That's a good way of not indulging too much and yet keeping the box office alive. Coolie No 1 was supposed to be his one other release after Street Dancer 3D this year but everything is uncertain now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2020 09:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).