Was Varun Dhawan Right In His Decision To Shed His Superstar Image And Do An Arty October?

Ok, so it is now pretty much established that when it comes to scoring a commercial success, Varun Dhawan has made it 10 out of 10. After scoring a triple hat-trick with nine back to back money spinners, all eyes were on whether he would make it 10 in a row with October .

 

It was always going to be dicey though, considering the fact that the Shoojit Sircar -directed film was pitched as an unconventional and offbeat film that would cater to a niche segment of the audience. Still, since it was widely publicized that commerce was pretty much controlled for the film with both Varun as well as Shoojit not really going with their market price, one expected a plus film in the offering. Moreover, it would have helped the film gain further credibility had it at least shown enough steam to cross the Badlapur lifetime numbers of 53 crores.

 

As things stand today, that number may be out of reach but still, a major distance has been covered. The film should come close to the 50 crore lifetime eventually and though a bigger and better number would have helped, this is still decent enough.

Nonetheless, tongues are still wagging - Should Varun have experimented at this stage of his career when he had already scored two back to back major centuries with Judwaa 2 and Badrinath Ki Dulhania?

 

Well, let's look at it this way. Any young superstar who is gaining quite a few commercial successes would want to continue playing in his backyard. There is something about not really allowing a good thing to end and in the glorious run that Varun has enjoyed since the release of his debut flick Student of the Year, he could well have kept making hardcore commercial entertainers.

However, this is also the stage in one's career when you get a bit anxious about getting critical acclaim that allows the stamp of an 'actor' to be put against your name. You don't expect that with Judwaa 2, you don't see that coming with Badrinath Ki Dulhania and then something like a Dishoom is dismissed as being way too easy. Not that doing a commercial film is actually as easy as it sounds but from a critic perspective, an actor does tend to think about proving a point.

 Hence, if Varun decided to do that with his tenth film October, it was a gamble worth playing!

 

After all, he wasn't doing it with a newcomer director. The man at the helm of affairs was Shoojit Sircar. He is someone who has established his credentials as someone who brings artistic values well into commercial domain, case in point being his last release as a director, Piku . Then you have a story like the kind seen in October which promises good emotional appeal since at the core of it there is a romantic tragedy in the offering. With good production values in the offering and promise of an entertainer of a different kind, things do look good on paper.

Even Varun must have been enticed and he can't be blamed for that.

The team also did right in pitching the film for what it is worth by means of promos. There was never a promise of a conventional Hindi film in the offering, the release was controlled as well and the pitching too was apt as per the film's subject. Yes, the content didn't entirely justify the theme, set up and the talent involved, and that's something which can happen to any film. Fortunately for both, this wasn't for a 100 crore film (like say, for example, a Bombay Velvet ) where an experiment like this could have been catastrophic.

It is time for all involved with the film to move on now. Soon enough there would be Sui Dhaaga - Made In India for Varun to look forward to. As for Shoojit, it is a matter of time before he returns with something far more exciting that appeals beyond just the aesthetic sensibilities and brings in better moolah too, just as was the case with Piku and Pink .