Q. How was it for you Varun, reuniting with the successful Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania team with a new story and new characters this time?
Varun Dhawan: It definitely felt like going back home in some way or the other… But when you go back home you get pampered and everything but when you have a director like Shashank he brings out his work as well. So, it was a lot of hard-work and a lot of fun, reuniting with friends.
Q. It’s a completely new character but what’s different about the Dulhania this time?
Alia Bhatt: This Dulhania doesn’t want to be a Dulhania, that’s the different quality and there is a lot more that is different. She is more mature, she is very ambitious. There is an interesting relationship between the two characters because they are different, in their behaviors and as compared to each other as well.
Q. It’s not very often that you get a franchise film in this genre…there are action franchise, thrillers but not in a romantic comedy or a love story genre.
Shashank Khaitan: I will have to give the credit for that to Karan, when I wrote the script there was no idea of a franchise.It was an independent story, I narrated the script to him and he said there is a certain similarity to Humpty in the sense of the love, marriage and the warmth of the film. So we started calling it Badrinath Ki Dulhania. And a week into it we all started to realise that it’s a good title. Let’s give it a shot and so far it seems like it was a good decision on his part.
Q. Well your characters are very relatable as well…in terms of the lingo and they really hit home, is that the expectation?
Varun Dhawan: I really hope so; the expectation is that somewhere you have met a person like Badri and Vedehi. The type of woman that Vedehi stands for is today’s Indian woman and she is a very inspiring character, someone who Badri himself gets inspired by and Badri is somebody that we have definitely met. Everyone has met some form of Badri in this country, it’s a very interesting character.For me the biggest part of Badri is that he signifies change, he shows how the country is changing and people are also changing with that.
Q. Varun it’s your third film with Alia Bhatt so what’s that one big thing that has changed and one thing that hasn’t over the course of these years?
Varun Dhawan: One thing that has changed is that she gets a lot of respect in interviews now because of her past work and one thing that hasn’t is that she is the same with me. I don’t think she can change with me, she has pretty much been the same. How can she change with me?
Q. You can’t change with him?
Alia Bhatt: Not really and I don’t see as to why I should change. I don’t think I should change at all. Let alone with him.
Q. What’s that one new thing in Varun that you have discovered in this third film?
Alia Bhatt: During the course of this film I have discovered that he is very attached to his mother and he finds his mother as a very big role model in his life
Q. Same time last year we met during the promotions of Kapoor and sons and we made Fawad and Siddharth sing for you, so is it special that around your birthday time a release is always there?
Alia Bhatt: It’s actually quite special, last time I celebrated my birthday in Delhi which was lovely and this time I am probably going to be in Mumbai and I am really excited because honesty it’s just a week full of events. The film release is an event and then there’s Holi and then there’s the birthday. So it’s interesting.
Q. Holi can’t be special without a Holi song and your song has been doing the rounds already and it’s going to be hit at Holi parties as well.
Varun Dhawan: I think we are going to go and party with people during Holi and hopefully people will want to come and party with us in the theater on 10 March.