They love to fight. their chemistry is friend-like. They want a ‘pj-boxer’ wedding. Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt in the t2 house!
Varun Dhawan+Alia Bhatt = SO CUTE, yaar! Yes, that’s what we felt about Bollywood’s most popular GenY stars when they popped into the t2 office on Tuesday afternoon to promote their Friday film Badrinath ki Dulhania. And that’s what they felt about us, too! Over 30 minutes, Varun and Alia had a blast with Team t2 over an adda on chemistry and Calcutta, films and friendship. And yes, they want to get married in their PJs and boxers!
Alia Bhatt: See! (Points to the t2 cover with Alia and Varun on it when they had come to our office to promote Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania in July 2014)
Varun Dhawan: Yeah, this is us. I remember this very well. Oh, lovely!
Team t2: And we had Alia on the t2 cover today!
Alia: Oh, lovely it is!
Varun: (In a mock complaining tone) Last time also when I came, Alia was on the cover!
Priyanka Roy (Team t2): So great to have you both back, this time for Badrinath ki Dulhania. What’s it been like taking and talking the film across the country?
Alia: It’s been good! (Looks at Varun who is doodling on the t2 ‘Humpty’ cover).
Varun: Oh sorry, I’m drawing! (Laughs) It’s been good… it’s been crazy. That’s because as you know, nowadays, people don’t really promote that much. For us, from Mumbai, Calcutta is the farthest away, flight-wise. But this time, me and Alia both made up our minds to come here. For so many years, people have been telling us, messaging us ‘Come, come, come!’ We had only come during Humpty… and got so much love. And this time we were like, ‘No matter what happens, we have to come to Calcutta’… and meet people, meet the fans, meet you guys… because we had such a great experience the last time.
Priyanka: When Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania ended, did you guys know there was going to be a second film?
Varun: Never!
Alia: No, never. In fact, that conversation also didn’t come up. We didn’t have that bright idea at that point that there could be a franchise because love stories ka usually franchise nahin hota hai. But then, this film came about and the story kind of complemented this whole dulhania angle. When the script came to us, it wasn’t even Badrinath ki Dulhania….
Varun: To be honest, this is a true dulhania film. At that time, when we were doing it, people were probably surprised that how are they even acting! (Laughs) But then, Humpty got so much love. This is not a sequel, it’s a franchise. It’s an actual, genuine, educative take on the dulhania series. That’s why coming to Calcutta is very important because they are so cinema literate and they really do appreciate…
Alia: Yeah, good content…
Priyanka: So much is said about the chemistry between you guys. With you working together right from your first film, Student of the Year, do you think the familiarity helps your chemistry or kills it sometimes?
Varun: I’m very confused with this now! (Laughs)
Alia: So am I! I have lost judgement on our chemistry. I don’t know what this is. Like I can’t put my finger on it… what is it? It’s very irritating!
Varun: We really cannot understand it and we really don’t know what happens. We do strange things because we get along. I wouldn’t do this with another actress (suddenly flicks Alia’s silver jhumka with his finger), but when I am with Alia, I’ll do this (flicks her jhumka again) and people feel that’s chemistry!
Alia: I think you have a thing with my jhumka!
Chandreyee Chatterjee (Team t2): We know what your onscreen chemistry is like. What’s it like off screen?
Varun: Off screen, I do this (plays with Alia’s jhumka again)
Priyanka: On Koffee with Karan, you were pulling each other’s hair and throwing cushions at each other…
Alia: That’s the way we are! On a good day, we are like that. On bad days…
Varun: We don’t talk!
Alia: Yeah, we don’t talk. But we are very honest and comfortable… I wouldn’t even say comfortable because it’s a misused word. It’s more of an understanding and just an ease, which we both are inherently like that as well.
Varun: You know, if I was supposed to fight with someone else who was a
co-star, it would make me very uncomfortable. But fighting with Alia is not a problem for me!
Alia: He really enjoys it!
Varun: No, I don’t really enjoy it, Alia!
Alia: Really?! So there was a scene in the film where he had to be upset with me. And he came….
Varun: This is not true!
Alia: He came and said something and I said, ‘Don’t irritate me’ because I was doing something on my phone. So he told me, ‘Alia, if you behave like this, I won’t talk to you’. So I said, ‘Yeah, okay’. I didn’t take it seriously and then I find that he’s actually not talking to me! And I didn’t even do anything! The whole night he wasn’t talking to me and I was like, ‘What are you doing?!’ And he was like, ‘Anyway, I’m not talking to you in the scene, so it’s okay’. So I was like, ‘Fine be this way…. doing method acting and all that’. You remember this, VD?
Varun: I remember this scene, but I wasn’t doing method acting. You did piss me off!
Alia: What did I do?!
Varun: I wanted to check something on your phone and you were not giving it to me that time.
Priyanka: You wanted to check her phone… obviously she wasn’t going to give it to you!
Varun: No, no, it’s not like I was going to check her messages. It was some game or something. So all the fights are very ‘friend-like’. It’s almost as simple as that. In this industry where there are very few genuine relationships that you can forge with people, this is probably one. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t know after this what will happen! (Both Alia and Varun laugh)
Priyanka: Do you think the rapport that you have confuses other people?
Varun: I think they take the wrong meaning out of it. That’s true. I’m kind of tired of that also…
Alia: (To Varun) Which people? Which people? Which people take it the wrong way?!
Varun: People!
Alia: We don’t care about these people!
Varun: What actually upsets me is that we work really hard on characters…
Alia: I want to say that. Chemistry ek baat hai, but when you’re working as characters, you are not Alia and Varun, you are characters. So what you’re projecting, what you’re saying is… Awwwwww!
(Alia’s reaction is courtesy the Badrinath Ki Dulhania cake, courtesy Paris Cafe, that has just vroomed in. Shaped like a wedding cake, it has ‘Alia’ and ‘Varun’ in icing figures sitting on a bike, just like the Badrinath poster)
Varun: Oh wow! That’s so cool!
Alia: That’s so sweet. You guys are so cute, yaar.
Varun: Listen, our film better be good. It better be good, yaar! No one can eat this ever.
Alia: It’s so shwweeeeet!
Varun: Sorry we are under-slept, so we are really emotional! (Laughs)
(Varun then spots the themed cupcakes, also courtesy Paris Cafe, with each cupcake mirroring a movie of the two young stars)
Varun: (Points to each cupcake) That’s my ABCD (2) shoes and Dilwale car.
Alia: Oh, that’s my Udta Punjab hockey stick. Dear Zindagi (looks at a cupcake with a camera) and Highway (points to a cupcake with a truck on it)!
Varun: This is unbelievable, yaar. We are just emotional. People don’t give us things…. they just want us to dance always! (Laughs) You gave us a cake. This is really beautiful. Really nice, guys.
Chandreyee: Did you notice that the bike has a West Bengal number plate?
Varun: Is that a sign that the next one should be…?
Alia: There is a joke, by the way…
Varun: Yeah there is a joke, there is a joke. It’s Alia’s joke, she finally cracked a joke! (Everyone laughs)
Alia: It’s not my joke! Shashank (Khaitan, the director of Badrinath ki Dulhania) keeps saying that the next part will be called ‘Arnab Ganguly ki dulhania!’
Varun: And I want to base my character on Sourav Ganguly!
(Over the next few minutes, Varun and Alia get busy taking pictures and videos of the cake and cupcakes. “It’s always so great to come here. You guys are really, really cool!” chorused the two. And yes, they did put up those pictures and videos on Instagram!)
Alia: Sondesh! I love sondesh.
Varun: Why are you behaving like no one has given you food?! Spoiling my name…
Alia: But I am very hungry!
Varun: If you can get me shikanji, then toh boss…. The last time I was here, when Argentina and (Lionel) Messi had come down, I had gone for that match to Salt Lake. One of the things that we did was have shikanji on the street. That was the first time I had shikanji and I was blown!
Alia: What is the most famous street food here or dessert?
Varun: Dessert toh must be sondesh, rosogolla…
Alia: And street food?
Team t2: Phuchka!
Alia: Woh mujhe khana hai!
Rwitoban Deb (Team t2): Coming back to Badrinath, do you now know the difference between simple interest and compound interest?
Alia: VD, come on!
Varun: Simple interest is PxRxT and compound…
Rupsha Bhadra (third year Jadavpur University student and Alia fan): Divided by 100!
Varun: Yes, yes, divided by 100! (Everyone laughs) And compound interest is…
Varun & Alia: A = P (1 + R/ 100) n
Varun: But I am not supposed to know that… I am weak in math!
Rupsha: Was math a favourite subject or a hated subject when you were kids?
Alia: What do you think?!
Varun: So I had a teacher called Mr Kadam, who kept telling my mother, ‘Mere ko heart attack aa jaayega Varun ko dekh ke, yeh kuch parta hi nahin’. I used to go for tuitions to him… and he actually had a heart attack!
Alia: Varun doesn’t give himself credit. He is actually better at math than me… I have discovered this.
Harsha Jaluka (student of St Stephen’s School and a Varun fan): If you have the chance to pick the title of the next Dulhania film, what will it be?
Alia: I think it totally depends on the person, as in like the character. Like this is Badrinath. So we can’t really coin the character.
Priyanka: But left to you what would you like to call it? Would it be somebody’s dulha?
Varun: I am not allowed to speak about these things! (Makes a zipping-his-lips gesture)
Alia: It is a good idea! It is a thought.
Varun: It is a step in the right direction (laughs). I think the next one should be now that we are already married and there is a kid involved, and because I have had no profession in both the films — in Humpty... I am figuring out what to do in life and over here I am pretty much a faltu — so in the next one, I should have a solid profession, maybe a little action-oriented or something…
Alia: (Straight-faced to Varun) You are writing this film?! No, it is sounding like you’ve written it.
Varun: It is sounding pretty good!
Alia: Well in the next one, I don’t know what is going to happen, but I am going to chase Varun. Because every time in these interviews they ask me, ‘Varun ne aapko Humpty mein bhi chase kiya, Badri mein bhi chase kiya, you are not giving him any answer only and making him run after you!’
Varun: I think the next one should be shot in Calcutta and it should be an espionage thriller because you all have this whole investigative vibe, you have this underbelly of Calcutta. In fact, Aki Narula, who has done my clothes, is from Calcutta and he keeps narrating me these stories like how Calcutta used to be in the ’90s, when he was growing up… the nightlife, the art, the design, the culture. I’ve heard some fantastic stories.
Anwesha Mukherjee (Class XII student of South City International School and a Varun fanatic): Varun, you have said that you love kids… so was there something you did as a kid that you shouldn’t have?
Varun: You want me to tell you dark stories from my childhood? It is a very embarrassing story, but I will still say it. Should I? (Asks Alia)
Alia: I don’t know the story!
Varun: I hit someone when I was small and I am not proud of that.
Alia: Varun, it’s okay.
Varun: No, for no reason!
Alia: You were a kid!
Varun: I know, but I hit someone who didn’t even know me! I was seven or eight and I was in Delhi and I got these new sneakers and I was really excited about them and I was jumping around. I was with a lot of people so I knew no one would do anything to me. There was this man who was standing with his kid who looked like he was about the same age as me and they were just looking at something. I just went and kicked the child!
Alia: You still do that.
Varun: I kick people?!
Alia: No, you don’t kick them but when you get excited, you get very random. When he gets excited, he is like ‘Alia!’ (Turns around and starts smacking Varun on his arm) Whenever he is excited he has to channel it in some way. There has to be some punch, some hit… he just has to do something.
Chandreyee: Alia, have you done something you shouldn’t have when you were a child?
Alia: I stole a lollipop once! (Laughs sheepishly) it was not from a shop, it was from my friend’s house. And I stole her Barbie doll. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
Rwitoban: Alia, have you plotted payback against Varun for making a video of you crying and then giving it to Karan Johar on Koffee with Karan?
Alia: Actually I do have a video of him.
Varun: Oh, ya… She does have a deadly one… of when I was drunk.
Alia: Of when he was drunk, during shoot! Because he was doing method acting, so he decided to drink. So he drank…. a lot! He was talking absolute nonsense.
Varun: I was not talking nonsense!
Alia: And he was telling me, ‘I may not be the best actor but I am very likeable on screen, and people like watching me’.
Priyanka: Does Alia have any crazy moments?
Varun: She does crazy things to herself. She gets up bruised on some days. Just recently there was cut on her forehead…
Alia: Ya, I don’t know… I think I scratch myself in the night. Or you (turns to Varun) might be scratching me when I am sleeping!
Varun: Arre, I have let you catch up on your sleep throughout these promotions.
Alia: Varun has a very big problem. Whenever I am sleeping, he has to wake me up. But not recently…
Varun: Because you’ve been so tired.
Alia: Sweet you are.
Harsha: Varun, you are doing Judwaa 2, directed by your dad David Dhawan. So Alia, if you could do one of your father’s (Mahesh Bhatt) films which one would it be?
Alia: I loved Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. I think it was a really, really cool concept and a really cool film. There were kids involved and everything. It makes it a very universal film. Typically, people would say Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and that stuff, but I feel they are any way iconic films and they should not be remade.
Varun: If given a chance to do any of Mahesh Bhatt Sir’s remakes I would love to do Naam. Actually, my dad’s been involved in it as well… he has edited it. But besides that, I think the film is relevant and will always be relevant.
Rupsha: Coming back to Badrinath, which is about a big fat Indian wedding… when you get married, what kind of wedding would you guys want?
Alia: Subtle… chilled. In my pyjamas. I am not wearing the lehnga and all that. Honestly, I feel that weddings are beautiful, but sometimes they are an excuse to just go on and on for
two-three weeks… 14 functions. How to do that?!
Varun: Even I would like to get married in my boxers! Weddings are so stressful, yaar.
Alia: Best to sit at home and eat pizza!
Varun: Arre, it is my marriage. I want to be happy. And I have realised mostly the people getting married are very fried by the end, because they are standing…
Alia: It is a task! And we go through that anyway on a daily basis.
Varun: Ya, I can’t again take pictures now. I refuse!
Alia: Court marriage! I think it is the best. And then have a sweet little party with your family…
Varun: … and friends.
Alia: It seems like we are planning our wedding tomorrow…
Varun: … in boxers and pyjamas!
Chandreyee: Your appeal is generally the girl-next-door guy-next-door thing. Do you like that?
Alia: You know I don’t understand this next-door wala funda. I ask people what do you mean by next door?
Chandreyee: As in approachable, relatable.
Alia: Yeah! We dig that. Because honestly we were discussing the other day that people don’t want to see all that and more than anything we don’t want to be like celebrities. That’s a bit jaded I feel and also a bit forced.
Varun: It is really weird, but if you want to ask the type of image I want to have… I would like to be very mysterious.
Alia: You don’t have a mysterious image.
Varun:: I know that. I can’t do it. But I wish I could just like say one word and people would be like ‘Ohh!’ That doesn’t happen (makes a sad face).
Rwitoban: Varun, you are super fit. Do you work out for aesthetic appeal or do you like the high of being fit?
Varun: I like the high of being fit. I am fit because I like being fit and what I can do with my body when I am fit. If I wasn’t fit, I wouldn’t have been able to twist and turn my body or do some of the things that I do now. When I work out, I actually feel super charged. Working out also helps you mentally…
Alia: Ya, totally…
Varun: When you work out, you are alone with yourself and parts of your body. When you work out, you give love to that body part (smiles). Basically, when you work out a certain body part, then blood flows more to that part and that means you are giving it nourishment. So working out is both scientific and spiritual for me.
Rwitoban: Do you play any sport?
Varun: I used to play a lot of sport at one time, ya… cricket in my building, footy… six-a-side football… but now, unfortunately…. (pauses) But again with Judwaa 2, I have started doing a lot of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). I am doing a lot of different kinds of action in that film and I am really enjoying that.
Priyanka: Alia, have you ever played any sport?
Varun: (To Alia) Handball, no?
Alia: In school, I used to be quite sporty… I was on the handball team and the football team. I also played some tennis when I was very young, I also played squash briefly. That was where my interest was… being outdoors and doing plays and going for competitions. I never paid attention to my studies because I didn’t really have any interest in it. And I always knew that my mind and my soul would feel nourished doing extracurricular activities. As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to go home before 8pm because I had to play downstairs. That was like a rule at home.
Priyanka: And did you get a hang of hockey while doing Udta Punjab?
Alia: Listen, hockey is a very difficult sport… I didn’t get a hang of it at all! Even though I wasn’t really playing hockey in the film, I trained for a month to get more body language ease. It’s a very, very skilful sport. I could just about dribble the ball!
Rupsha: Sport to shaadi, when you get married, what’s that one quality you will look for in your partner?
Alia: See, when you are marrying somebody, at the end of the day even if they don’t have that quality, you marry them because you love them. You should just recognise a pure and beautiful relationship for what it is… sometimes, most of us don’t recognise it only. Your relationship is there, but you keep saying nahin par yeh par woh par yeh… but that is maybe the purest relationship you can have.
Varun: When you ask about quality in a partner, it’s not that you are buying a pressure cooker or a washing machine. It’s wrong on the part of society to put labels on people because one person just cannot be so many things. I just hope when I grow, the person who is with me grows with me. Okay, this came across as very wrong! (Laughs)
Rwitoban: Varun, you love kids. So where would you like to be in the next three years — holding a National Award or having your kid running around the house?
Varun: I choose my kid running around my house with my National Award!
Alia: You are not having a kid in three years!
Varun: No baba, I am not! I am just saying that though I believe in the institution of marriage, I’m not dying to get married. And I love playing with kids… they can be other people’s kids also!
Anwesha: On a very serious note, what would I have to do to marry you?
Varun: Marry me?! Why do you want to marry me… you can take me out on a date!
(Just then Team t2 brings in Alia’s favourite — rosogollas!)
Alia: (Screaming) Look at what’s arrived!
Varun: You all are a very good team… but you just want to make actors fat!
Alia: Oh, this has to be consumed at this moment! (Turns to the t2 photographer) Yeh aapko bahut achha shot milega (laughs).
(Varun and Alia get busy digging into the rosogollas)
Alia: (Looking at the rosogolla in her hand) Aami tomake bhalobashi! Yummyyy! (Sees the syrup of her rosogolla dripping on her phone) See, even my phone wants to have rosogolla!
Varun: This is too good ya, guys! Oh ya, to answer your question, about what you have to do to marry me….
Alia: Give him watermelon juice and make him meet The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)… he loves him!
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Pictures: Rashbehari Das & Pabitra Das