Much before Karan Johar signed him up for Student Of The Year, newcomer Varun Dhawan had entirely different plans for his film career. He actually wanted to have a career in Hollywood and had even auditioned for several projects there.
“Varun wanted to kickstart his film career early, but was advised to wait a while as many of the newcomers who went on to be superstars, like Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor, didn’t start off too early,” says a friend of the debutant. “Varun was told that in Bollywood, it takes a little more time for things to fall into place. But he felt Hollywood was different. He found Shia LaBeouf, Transformers’ lead actor, particularly inspiring, as he was just 21 when he made it big.”
In fact, Varun intended to audition for the sequel of Transformers and packed his bangs and moved to the West. “This was four years ago, and he wasn’t even thinking of Hindi films,” Varun’s friend adds.
But when Varun later worked with Karan Johar as an assistant director on My Name Is Khan, things changed. And before he knew it, he had a place in Student Of The Year. Confesses Varun, “They say ‘you don’t choose your first film, it’s your first film that chooses you’. I am still shocked by the fact that it is Karan Johar with whom I am making my debut.”