When Varun Dhawan explained why he drew parallel between Dilwale and Inception: ‘I was trying to be a little cheeky’
In an interview with Arbaaz Khan in 2019, Varun Dhawan maintained that he never said 'Dilwale is like Inception', and explained why he drew a parallel between the two films.
Varun Dhawan got the nickname ‘Varunardo DiCaprio’ (a play on Leonardo DiCaprio) after he drew a parallel between his film, Dilwale, and Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending psychological thriller Inception. While he was trolled for comparing the two, he later clarified that while it was a ‘stupid statement’, he never said that Dilwale is like Inception.
At a pre-release event for Dilwale in 2015, a reporter said that not much of the plot was revealed in the trailer. Varun replied, “You have seen Inception? You understood it? You liked it? Then you will like Dilwale also.”
During an earlier appearance on Arbaaz Khan’s chat show Pinch, Varun said that when the trailer of Dilwale came out, it ‘received its fair share of criticism’. “Ek bande ne press se bola ki, ‘Bhaiyya, humne trailer dekha, humko kuch samajh mein nahi aaya. Uss waqt, jab main udhar baitha tha, toh mere ko pata nahi tha ki inko pasand aaya hai ya nahi pasand aaya (One person from the media said that he did not understand the trailer. At that time, I was not too sure if people liked the trailer)... So I was trying to be a little cheeky.”
“I said, ‘Aap logon ne Inception ki trailer dekhi? Aapko kuch samajh aaya plot ke baare mein (Did you watch the trailer of Inception and understand the film’s plot from it)?’ He said no. I said, ‘Haan toh aise iska bhi nayi aaya. Toh jaise uske baare mein nahi likha, toh iske baare mein kyun likh rahe ho (Similarly, you did not understand the plot here as well. If you did not question that, then why are you questioning this)?’,” he added.
Varun said that he made a ‘stupid statement’ but maintained that it was given a different spin by the media. “Maybe it's a stupid statement. I am stupid, I agree. Uss din se, har jagah (since that day, everywhere), besides writing about the trailer, it just came that ‘Varun Dhawan says Dilwale is like Inception’. Maine zindagi mein kabhi nahi kaha ki (Never in my life did I say that) Dilwale is like Inception,” he said, adding that some journalist wrote it and it went viral. “But I invited it, I guess,” he admitted.
Dilwale, directed by Rohit Shetty, also starred Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Kriti Sanon in the lead roles. While the film earned more than ₹100 crore at the box office, it received mostly negative reviews.
