Riding high on promotional activities, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan starrer Badrinath Ki Dulhania is a roller coaster of love, emotions and all things filmy. By Ankita Jain
Just after transporting the students of Hindu college to the 90s era with their power-packed and foot-tapping number Tamma Tamma Again, the lead and director of Badrinath ki Dulhania, walked in for an interactive session. “We apologise for keeping you all wait for an hour, the flight got delayed,” said Alia clad in a deep V neck red jumpsuit.
After impressing with their chemistry in Student of the Year and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are all set to work their magic again in Badrinath Ki Dulhania. “My character in the film is quite different from what it was in Humty Sharma ki Dulhania. I play the character of hard-to-get lass, who is mature and wants to live her life to the fullest,” smiled Alia. She further added, “Vaidehi (her character in the film) hails from Kota, so she talks to all very respectfully. She is from a small town, but she is very well educated and speaks her mind. I think I learnt a lot from this character, the way we city girls behave with our family is different, the way I sit with my parents is more friendly. But for her (Vaidehi) it is different, it is a huge deal to respect all while interacting with the loved ones.”
Apparently, it was quite difficult for Varun Dhawan to portray the character of Badrinath from Jhansi in the film. The actor said, “Badri and I are miles apart. We both have zero similarities. But all credit to the director, Shashank Khaitan, for he held my finger and trained me for two months for the film. As my character is from a small town, I had to keep my emotions and romance in control. So he (Khaitan) removed Varun out of me for the film. People usually see me in a jolly character, when films like Badlapur takes roll, audience are in for surprises.” Talking about few instances from the film where he as a person wouldn’t stand for, Varun explained, “The film deals with male chauvinism and double standards we have in our country. I have realised that we do certain things feeling, yeh toh chalta hai. But it doesn’t work like that, we have to understand the woman’s perspective. I learnt this when I had a few dialogue in the film and I thought it’s okay to say things like that, but Alia and the DOP — who is a woman — told me that just because these dialogues are said in a funny way don’t make them right. So before this movie, I didn’t realise that we are alienating women without even realising it.” Talking about Badri’s character, a boy from a small town, Varun shared, “People there (in small towns) are very emotional and expressive. We become street-smart unknowingly, living in big cities. If someone hurts them, they get hurt real bad but it doesn’t make a difference to us here.”
Recently, it was reported that Mahesh Bhatt received a phone call from an individual asking for Rs 50 lakh. If he failed to pay the sum, the man threatened to kill Mahesh Bhatt’s wife Soni Razdan and daughter Alia Bhatt. Culprit turned out to be an unemployed 24-year-old man named Sandeep Sahu from lucknow, who has been arrested by the police. “Because of my dad, UP and Mumbia police, everything is fine now,” clarified Alia.
The pair’s repartee and sizzling chemistry is unmissable, be it healthy flirting or the duos zest for life— director Shashank Khaitan has done a truly commendable job in catching the essence of modern-day romance and incorporating it in the second installment of the Dulhania series. “The story brings all the flavours of Uttar Pradesh. More than me Varun wanted perfection. The comfort level Alia and Varun shares is seen vibrantly in the film,” said Shashank. About the promotional strategies, Shashank elaborated, “We wanted to save the best for the end. This is the reason why we launched the title track in the beginning and Roke Na Rukke Naina by Arijit Singh later. We’ve tried to treat the festival in a novel way through the title track. It’s not restricted to using pichkaris and throwing colours. We have used colours as part of the choreography and there is a lot more dancing in our song. Also for this song, Alia has a 90s look. Whereas, the later song narrates a rough patch in their relationship.”
Photo: Pankaj Kumar