Varun Dhawan: Shoojit Sircar didn't disclose October ending to me

Actor Varun Dhawan has been garnering praise is for October, directed by Shoojit Sircar.

Often perceived as a commercial actor, Dhawan has left everyone pleasantly surprised with his mature and intense performance in October. In a conversation with film critic Anupama Chopra, the actor made a few interesting disclosures. The key one was how director Sircar and writer Juhi Chaturvedi didn’t tell him about the ending that left Dhawan disappointed.

October review: An intimate, emotional journey

October is a story of Dan, a young hospitality staffer who gets deeply affected by the terrible accident that his colleague Shiuli goes through.

“I didn’t know about it. He purposely didn’t tell me. I knew something is going to give. I started hoping she will survive,” Dhawan told Chopra. The actor felt disappointed with the climax as he really got into the skin of his character.

“After a while, the film stopped being a movie for me,” said Dhawan who really started to care for Shiuli. "I bought a soft toothbrush, one that you use for babies. I was getting pillows, getting my picture pasted on her bed. I slept besides a dhabha. I was angry with them (Sircar and Chaturvedi) for 2-3 days. You make the film so real, you make me show so much care. You put me on this emotional ride and then...,” cried Dhawan.

October is inspired from a personal incident, says director Shoojit Sircar

Dhawan also revealed that Sircar had the script since 2004, and he was surprised why the director approached him for the role.

“This is something that is not my comfort zone. I asked Shoojit why would he want me? He said if I don’t do it then he will cast some newcomer. Little did I know then that this was a film that’s very close to him, that I had an inkling that I’ll become this newcomer. This film takes birth from a personal space of the writer and director. That’s why I did this film,” said Dhawan.

The biggest difficulty that Dhawan faced with the film was how Sircar didn’t want him to act. "The moment he felt I acted, Sircar would cut the shot. I’d asked him that if I don’t act then what do I do? All that he told me was to just imagine, to feel how I would react if I found myself in a similar situation,” quipped Dhawan.

Shoojit Sircar on October theme music: I thought it was magical

The film tells us how as human beings many have forgotten how to care. Dhawan stated, “Today, we have stopped caring. Why should we show it only when a person is about to pass away? That is what is amazing about this film,” he said.

Dhawan will be seen next  in Yash Raj Films' Sui Dhaaga (2018).

October theme song: Shantanu Moitra delivers wonderfully musical introspection of melancholy