‘Baby John’: Varun Dhawan Pays Tribute to Rajinikanth in Christmas Blockbuster

In preparation for his next Christmas release, Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is embracing the larger-than-life filmmaking style of South India with “Baby John,” a film that required him to learn the legendary mannerisms of superstar Rajinikanth.

Speaking to Variety prior to the movie’s December 25 release, Dhawan discusses why he was drawn to the project since it represents a big change from his prior work. “I wanted to do something larger than life. I wanted to be that macho hero. I wanted to express my emotions in a certain way, which I guess I was not getting those opportunities here [in Bollywood], or those films are not being made here,” says Dhawan.

Directed by Kareese (Key), Baby John is a major collaboration between Hindi and South Indian cinema, brought to you by Jio Studios and Atlee, and produced by Murad Khetani, Priya Atlee and Jyoti Deshpande. The film is an A for Apple Studios and Cine1 Studios production in association with Atlee and Cine 1 Studios. In this action-drama, Dhawan follows in the footsteps of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, who made his foray into the larger-than-life style of South Indian cinema with Atlee’s Jawan.

The actor’s preparation included intensive research into mass appeal moments in South Indian cinema.“I was shown a video compilation of [Indian superstar] Rajinikanth-sir and all the different antics that he does, the mass moments he does,” Dhawan reveals. “Then I was shown a video parallelly of all the actors from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi cinema, where they were doing what Rajinikanth-sir has done, and it was very fascinating to realize that he has done so many things, that everything that people do usually are things that he’s done.”

Dhawan draws comparisons to the historic Hindi film industry, pointing to the 1991 Amitabh Bachchan film “Hum” as a major source of influence. “In my childhood, I loved this film called ‘Hum’ by Mukul Anand, which has Amitabh Bachchan, where he plays almost a double role, dual identity kind of character,” he explains. “‘Baby John’ has similar themes. It also has another theme of protection of women in this country and how it’s done. And there’s a solution also for it, which is good parenting versus bad parenting. It’s almost like an Indian Thali [platter], which has every different cultural cuisine.”

The actor found it difficult to adjust to the South Indian filmmaking approach. It was really, really challenging. “It was very, very difficult. I think one of the tougher acting assignments I’ve had in a while,” Dhawan admits. “When I did [Prime Video action series] ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny‘ with [directors] Raj and DK, it felt like a piece of cake actually, because that was very differently engineered.” He emphasizes the intense nature of the production: “No shooting day felt easy ever. There was no light shooting day. Everything felt heavy. Everything felt big.”

The film’s action sequences, choreographed by Citadel: Honey Bunny action director Yannick Benn, promise to be spectacular. “There’s a big interval block, pre-interval block, which is in the rain, which he’s done, which is a standout for me,” Dhawan shares. “The action in ‘Baby John’ is a monster in itself.”

One of the highlights of Dhawan’s work was collaborating with his young co-star. “Shooting with a small child Zara, I think that was a very joyous moment,” he recalls. “Just doing scenes with her was very enjoyable, fun, spontaneous, very new. Because as a child, every take of hers was different.”

Dhawan highlights the shifting audience expectations as he considers the shifting terrain of Indian cinema in 2024. He notes, “You can’t give them anything mediocre.” His recent project choices, such as “Jug Jug Jeeyo,” “Bhediya,” and the impending “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari,” have been impacted by this knowledge.

Dhawan has a plethora of varied tasks on his plate for the future. Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde co-star in the comedy “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai,” which was directed by his father David Dhawan. He starts the first schedule for the war movie sequel “Border 2” in January. Additionally, he plans to start work on Anees Bazmee’s comic sequel, “No Entry 2,” by the end of 2025.