Actor Varun Dhawan has unlikely inspirations for his performances – musician Elvis Presley and wrestler-turned-actor The Rock.
"I think I thrive in front of an audience the most. I enjoy this. I enjoy when there's an audience watching me. The thing about great performers like Elvis Presley and The Rock, is when they perform near large audiences, they are almost in sync with the audience, and with what each person is feeling. That's what great musicians do. You make them feel what you want them to feel. It's a selfish thing, but you feel powerful. I guess politicians feel like that."
So what does he do on a set where the audience is limited? "It's the best thing when a light boy or a spot boy says, "Yeh achha laga". They criticize actors, and because I've been an assistant, if an actor is screwing up a scene, they say, "Arre, ghatiya actor hai, director achha lag raha tha". So behind the scenes, that constantly happens. I swear to God, there have been times when one of the light men have told me to do one more take and I've gone back to the director and been like, "Ek aur kar de sir" and he's like "kyun?"
Varun will next be seen as a hotel management trainee in Shoojit Sircar's October.