Actor Varun Sharma tells Sakshi Sharma that his forthcoming horror-comedy, Roohi, is all about entertainment
The trailer of horror-comedy Roohi opens with people talking about a witch who preys upon newlyweds. She sings and puts the grooms to sleep and abducts their brides. As the three minute teaser unfolds, we see actor Varun Sharma in two contrasting looks. One, where he’s donning a never-seen-before avatar — with spooky makeup with blood running down his face, dark circles, a blank stare and red hair. The other Varun is his casual comic self where he cracks jokes with his co-stars Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor.
As is evident from the trailer, the fun quotient in the film seems to be top class. Says Varun, “There was a lot of fun on the sets while we were doing this film. It is a very crazy concept with three witches being caught in the adventure and falling in love with a witch. We are happy with the way the trailer is being received. The entertainment quotient and quirkiness is evident throughout.”
Directed by Hardik Mehta, the film follows the eerie yet hilarious adventures of Bhaura (played by Rajkummar), and Kattanni (played by Varun), as they come across a peculiar girl Roohi (essayed by Janhvi), in a forest.
It is Varun’s second outing with Rajkummar as they were earlier seen together in Dolly ki Doli (2015). The two share a great chemistry in real life, which Varun believes “translated on the screen too.” The actor is all praise for his co-star Janhvi too. He says, “She is a phenomenal character. While filming this, she was doing some other project too. So, she had to portray two different personalities on the same day, which she did with a lot of ease and fun. Maza aa gaya!”
What made him take up this role? Well, the actor couldn’t really decide one thing as the whole concept intrigued him. So, he takes a pause and says, “The script is the strongest pillar. And yaar kab life mein churail ke saath kaam karne ka mauka milega? (When will you get a role to work with a witch?) This is really interesting. I am a huge fan of the film Stree (2018). I loved that film, so I was really excited to work with the same makers and in the same genre. For all the right reasons, I immediately realised that I want to become a part of this mad world.”
But it wasn’t easy. Every role comes with its own set of preparation and challenges. Varun had to step out from his usual Hindi-Punjabi accent and learn the MP-UP style. Says he, “The biggest challenge was to portray my character right as it belonged to a fictional town in the film based near the MP-UP border. So, I used to sit with the writers and learn that accent. I watched a lot of tik tok videos, listened to Bhojpuri songs and kept myself away from Punjabi music so that I could get the nuances of the dialect, make it my own and perform in it.”
Horror-comedy is one of the most tricky genres to get right because maintaining the balance between the two — horror and comedy — is very important. How did he make it work? Says Varun, “I think the conviction of the makers, directors, writers and actors did it. I should give it to the team.”
There’s a very thin line between horror and comedy, one moment it’s scary and the very next moment you are laughing. “Yes, it’s a tough genre to portray correctly. A lot of time goes into writing the script so that the horror as well as comic timing lands correctly. No matter how much we try, if we don’t get the desired reaction, the scene would go flat. I hope people get entertained, they laugh at one point and get scared at the other,” adds Varun.
He agrees that earlier this genre wasn’t explored much in the Indian cinema. But in the last few years, we have seen more films on these lines, including Stree. “When I saw the film, I was scared but in the very next moment I was laughing with ease too. This genre gives a lot of comfort to people who don’t watch horror films,” says Varun. Hence, we can attribute this as one of the main reasons for the growing popularity of this genre.
Be it Chucha in Fukrey (2013) or Sexa in Chhichhore (2019), the actor, known for his comic timing, has done a range of comedy roles now. So, what more does he aim to explore? “I really like making people laugh. All the comic roles that I have done so far are very different from each other. It’s important to understand that there’s a very thin line between different styles of comedy and I want to attempt all of them. Other than this, I am a huge fan of thrillers too and would love to be a part of such films,” says Varun.
Even after doing a considerable number of comedy films and being asked about the fear of getting typecast, the actor chooses to stick to this genre. He shares that it is the ‘smiling faces’ that keep him going. Adds he, “I love to see people smile and laugh. It is then that I think ‘why not continue doing this.’ I am simultaneously trying other genres too but this is not something that I am going to leave.”
The film was expected to release in June 2020 but got delayed due to the pandemic. And now it has become the first film to release in cinema halls after they have been allowed to operate at full capacity. While the actor is clueless if this will give an upperhand to the film, he’s just thankful to the makers that they had the confidence of holding it for so long. “It is not easy to do it, they stood by it to release it in cinemas only. I just hope that the audience will go back and enjoy. People need entertainment to go through such times and our constant effort has been to make them laugh. I promise, you’ll come out of theatres laughing and taking something home,” says Varun.
(The film releases on March 11.)
