Despite of having a commercial start in the industry, Varun Dhawan dared to take a dark thriller like 'Badlapur'. The risk has paid off as critics and audiences are going gaga over his performance in the film.

When asked what made him take such a huge plunge from mainstream cinema to drama, the actor had the following to say, "I've always been a bit of a rebel. I didn't want to play a negative character for the sake of it. I wanted to get deep into it. Badlapur gave me the perfect chance. Many people questioned my decision to do a masala film like Main Tera Hero (2014), and then Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014) with a new director (Shashank Khaitan). But, they both worked," he said.

He further added that when he signed the film everyone had a negative opinion about it. "People asked me, 'Why are you working with Sriram (Raghavan; director) and Dinesh (Vijan; producer)? They're a failed pair.' But I saw a hunger in them to make a good film, which I didn't see in anyone else," he added.

Nonetheless, he is happy with the overwhelming response to the film. "It's been the craziest week of my film life because the type of appreciation this film has got is unprecedented. I'm shocked. I always felt that the youth of this country is ready to watch such films, but to accept it in this manner shows that the audience actually wants to see stuff like this," he said.