In the 1990s, Bollywood was heavily influenced by the underworld. Many celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan and Karan Johar, have spoken about receiving threats. In a recent conversation with Yuvaa, Varun Dhawan recalled how his family too received an underworld threat, forcing them to leave their house and stay elsewhere for a day.
Varun Dhawan recalled scary yet funny call from underworld
Varun shared that several celebrities were receiving underworld calls at the time, and added, “We were getting them too. We had been receiving them for quite some time, but we didn’t realise it because the staff were arguing with whoever was calling. The staff even gave out our full address and told the person where to meet, ‘Come meet me in that garden; I’ll beat you there.”
He further revealed that when things escalated, an actor called his father, filmmaker David Dhawan, to warn him. Varun said, “He said that this had gone out of hand and that the person was now saying he would come with guns and that he knew our address and office timings. When my dad asked who had said this, he took the staff member’s name. So we had to leave our house and stay somewhere else that day. It is funny, but it is not funny actually.”
Varun’s revelation offers a glimpse into a disturbing phase in Bollywood’s history, when many film personalities were reportedly living under the shadow of threats and extortion calls from the underworld.
About Varun Dhawan’s recent and upcoming films
Varun was most recently seen in the film Border 2. Helmed by Anurag Singh, the film also featured Sunny Deol, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty in lead roles, along with Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Medha Rana and Anya Singh in key parts. The film emerged as a commercial success, collecting ₹450 crore worldwide.
Varun is now awaiting the release of his upcoming film, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. The romantic comedy also stars Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur in lead roles, along with Jimmy Shergill, Mouni Roy and Rohit Saraf in key roles. Helmed by David Dhawan, the film marks the fourth collaboration between father and son after Main Tera Hero, Judwaa 2 and Coolie No. 1.
The film was earlier scheduled to release in cinemas on 5 June, but was later postponed to avoid a clash with Yash’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups, which is set to release on 4 June. Announcing the postponement, the makers shared a statement that read, “We would like to clarify that our film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai was originally scheduled for release on 5th June, a date we had announced several months ago. However, after recent developments and considering the prevailing situation, we felt it would be more appropriate to shift our release. We strongly believe that it is always healthier for the industry when filmmakers support one another rather than compete unnecessarily on the same date. In that spirit of solidarity, we have decided to move the release of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai to 12th June and bring our film to the audiences a week later (sic).”
