Will Street Dancer 3D Be A Redemption For Varun Dhawan's Only Box-Office Failure, Kalank?

Weeks after the release of Kalank and its subsequent failure, Varun Dhawan spoke to Hindustan Times in an interview, speaking how he and the film’s team let down people. “The film did let down people. We have collectively gone through why it didn’t work. Personally, it (failure) was important. I wanted the failure to affect me because if it doesn’t, then that means I don’t love my work,” the actor said.

As the actor looks forward to the release of the dance film Street Dancer 3D, he will be hoping to do right by his sizable fan following, something his box office track record shows he has been doing successfully during his career. He has delivered 13 films, four of which went on to join the Rs 100 crore club, in an 8-year career is no small feat. The actor holds an outstanding report card with only one failure – Kalank, a multi-starrer with five more leading co-stars sharing the credit. “I think ups and downs are a part of life and we learn from it. It was my first failure as an actor,” he had said.

Varun was fortunate enough to make a dream debut with Karan Johar’s 2012 film Student of the Year 2. But before his critics slam him for nepotism, Varun can happily take credit of not just working in his father David Dhawan’s latest films but also ending the senior filmmaker’s 7-year dry run at the box office with Judwaa 2.

David has again cast Varun in his next, Coolie No 1, the remake of his 1995 original, starring Govinda as the male lead. This will be the father-son duo’s third film together after Main Tera Hero and Judwaa 2, the latter being Varun’s highest grossing solo film with collection of Rs 138 crore.

Varun is among the most commercially reliable actors in Bollywood with a 93% success rate. His four Rs 100 crore blockbusters also include his 2015 film Dilwale, which got thumbs down from the critics. But just like Kalank, this was his another multi-starrer headlined by much senior actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, who will not let the blame fall on his shoulders alone.

It is to be noted, all three of his remaining Rs 100 crore films: ABCD 2, Dilwale, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2 were instalments in successful new franchises. This clearly signifies his ability to repeat the success of the original with equal conviction but with fresh energy.

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Not many actors deny the importance of box office numbers but Varun manages to tread the thin line between content-led cinema and mainstream cinema. He has already proved his worth by balancing his masala films with author-backed roles in films like Badlapur, October and Sui Dhaaga.

Just before he could be typecasted as a romantic hero with dancing abilities, he broke out of his happy-go-lucky image in his fourth film Badlapur, which went on to collect Rs 50 crore. The Shoojit Sircar film October is considered one of his best works ever and collected Rs 39 crore. His latest experiment of turning into a small-town tailor in Sui Dhaaga was impressive too. In the end, as Varun’s Mauji says “Sab bhadiya hai”.