Making people laugh is what keeps me going: Varun Sharma
Alba Silveira | Panjim
At an 'In Conversation' session titled 'How to Carve Your Niche' organised during the nine-day International Film Festival of India in Goa, Fukrey series director Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and actor Varun Sharma spoke at length on the topic and addressed queries from the audience.
"Success to me means waking up every morning and doing what I love, and what I always wanted to do," said Varun Sharma, the most-loved actor from the Fukrey franchise. He said though he would love to explore other genres (like thriller and grey-shade characters), comedy is something he loves doing and is grateful for the love people have showered on his characters in various movies. He added that perhaps his niche i.e., comedy gives him the satisfaction of bringing smiles to people’s faces and that is what keeps him going.
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| Mrighdeep Singh Lamba (left) and Varun Sharma (middle) during the 'In Conversation' session |
Talking about his career as an actor, Varun Sharma offered, "actors do not think about creating niche initially – it is learnt during the journey while enacting various roles or even in other tasks like casting which I did for a long time."
The actor recalled how he wanted to become an actor after watching Baazigar and how things came full circle for him in Dilwale. He also gave a sneak peek into his upcoming projects like Cirkus which is due for release at Christmas this year.
Speaking about his films, director Mrighdeep Singh Lamba said he does not go overboard celebrating the success of his films, neither does he indulge in any rat race – rather he takes it as another learning experience like the many failures and setbacks that shaped his journey.
The filmmaker mentioned that while he had initially ventured into horror films inspired by Ram Gopal Verma’s works, somewhere along the journey one script gave him the confidence that it fits best with his kind of storytelling.
He acknowledged that comedy is a very tough genre with subjective notions of humour, importance of timing and tonality and fears how it will be received by people. However, these are the variables that allow specific directors to imprint their styles in movies. He mentioned movies of iconic filmmakers like Priyadarshan, Anees Bazmee, David Dhawan with distinct styles who gave superhit movies in the past decades.
Given the popularity of the Fukrey movies, the discussion and the questions from the audience soon focussed on the process, reception and the characterisations in these films. Both Varun and Mrighdeep admitted that the characters were inspired from ordinary folks in the neighbourhoods of Delhi. They expressed gratitude that people loved the characters and could relate to them.
Varun Sharma, apart from his roles in Dilwale and Chhichhore, is known for his boy-next-door character with superpowers in the Fukrey franchise whose third film is expected in 2023, as the franchise completes a decade. Director Mrighdeep Singh Lamba has also worked as Assistant Director in movies like Don (by Farhan Akhtar) and Yuvvraaj (by Subhash Ghai) before embarking on the Fukrey saga in comedy.
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