Mumbai: Varun Dhawan recently opened up about a frightening episode from his childhood when his family received underworld threat calls, revealing how the situation worsened after staff unknowingly shared personal details.
Recalling the incident, Varun said that during the 1990s, when Bollywood was under significant underworld influence, several celebrities were receiving threat calls.
The likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan and Karan Johar have also spoken about similar experiences in the past.
Varun shared that his family too had been getting such calls, but initially didn’t realise the seriousness of the situation.
According to Varun, their household staff would often argue with the callers and in the process, ended up revealing sensitive information like their home address and even suggesting meeting spots to confront them.
Things took a serious turn when an actor alerted Varun’s father, filmmaker David Dhawan, that the threats had escalated, with the caller now allegedly talking about coming with weapons as he already knew their address and office timings.
“He said that this had gone out of hand and that the person was now saying he would come with guns and that he knew our address and office timings. When my dad asked who had said this, he took the staff member’s name. So we had to leave our house and stay somewhere else that day. It is funny, but it is not funny actually,” Varun said.
The family was shaken, and decided to leave their house and stay somewhere else for safety. Reflecting on the incident, Varun remarked that while it may sound ironic in hindsight, it was a genuinely unsettling experience.
His revelation sheds light on a troubling phase in the Hindi film industry, when many personalities reportedly lived under constant fear of extortion and threats from the underworld.
On the work front, Varun was last seen in ‘Border 2’, directed by Anurag Singh. The film, which also featured Sunny Deol, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty, performed well at the box office, reportedly earning Rs 450 crore worldwide.
Varun is now gearing up for the release of romantic comedy ‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’, co-starring Pooja Hegde and Mrunal Thakur.
Directed by David Dhawan, the film marks father and son’s fourth collaboration after ‘Main Tera Hero’, ‘Judwaa 2’ and ‘Coolie No. 1’.
Originally slated to be released on June 5, the film will now hit theatres on June 12 to avoid a box-office clash with ‘Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups’, starring Yash.
The makers stated that the decision was taken in the spirit of industry solidarity, emphasising the importance of avoiding unnecessary competition at the box office.
