Varun Dhawan made 55 calls to Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt night before Badrinath Ki Dulhania trailer launch

Student of The Year (2012) debutants Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan came together for the trailer launch of their upcoming film, Badrinath Ki Dulhania. Producer Karan Johar and director Shashank Khaitan were also present at the launch event today morning (2 February). 

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The crew revealed an annoying truth about Dhawan at the media interaction. Johar said, "Varun must have made around 55 calls late last night, asking us whether we all should speak like our characters and wear traditional clothes for the presser. I told him that if I wear traditional clothes, I might look like the Air India Maharaja (mascot). Never before has anyone asked me this before a presser.” Bhatt and director Khaitan also confirmed that they received calls from Dhawan last night. 

Explaining his reasons for the midnight calls, Dhawan said, "This is my first festival release." Badrinath Ki Dulhania will release on the Holi weekend (10 March). "All through these years, I wanted a festival release but it never happened. Since the film has rustic characters and it being released on Holi, I wanted to wear traditional clothes for today's press conference," he added. 

Dhawan, Bhatt and Khaitan turned up in a traditional avatar, while Johar opted for a western suit.

This wasn't Dhawan's only concern, revealed Johar. 

"I told Varun to just wear something black. He wanted all of us to wear traditional clothes. There was another request by him to change the venue of the press conference. We were initially supposed to hold this presser at Cinepolis theatre, but Dhawan called few days before requesting it to be changed," said Johar. 

"The press conference of all my previous films have taken place at Juhu PVR. May be this venue is lucky for me and I didn’t want it to change," reasoned a superstitious Dhawan.

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Talking of festive releases, Johar was asked is he would release a film on Eid. "There’s no way that I can even think of an Eid release. That belongs to Salman Khan. As a producer, we arrive at a date that can help us to optimise our numbers," said Johar. 

In another startling disclosure, Dhawan revealed how he had alcohol for the first time on the screen.  The actor is not known to either drink or smoke.

"I did consume a lot of alcohol for this film. While this film has a fun and humour element, it has been more emotional than all my other films. There were times when I was snapping at Bhatt and Khaitan," the actor confessed.

Both Khaitan and Bhatt nodded in agreement.

"You have no idea how he snapped at us. I remember while doing the alcohol scene, Varun kept telling us that he is not at all sober, and he was shaking while saying this. He could barely stand," said Bhatt. 

Bhatt is now counted among the top actress, but she still feels the jitters every time a new film is set for release. When asked whether she has a penchant for doing rustic characters, the Udta Punjab actress replied, "It’s not any conscious decision to do any urban or rural characters. Playing  dulhania (desi bride) is something that goes with my spirit." 

Dhawan interrupted Bhatt to conclude, "Look, rural or urban character, we never choose our films this way. There is always just two things, good or bad films. We want to do good films."