Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 19, 2017)

When Varun Dhawan was told that he would be picked up and tossed around by a hulking Vivan Bhatena in freezing London for one of the earliest action sequences in the upcoming Judwaa 2, the actor’s instinctive chuckle, “He’ll easily do it! He is so big and strong,” was cut short by director dad David, when he added that Varun would have to lift Vivan for the final stunts. “But Varun managed to pull it off,” recalls Vivan, who takes over from Mukesh Rishi’s antagonist Tiger in the 1997 film for its sequel.

“In another part, Varun was on the floor and I had to kick him. I did it a tad too hard and hurt his arm. I apologised profusely but Varun didn’t mind. He’s genuine and always eager to learn,” Vivan adds.

Besides trading punches, the Sajid Nadiadwala production, which also features Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu, will also be high on chase sequences through a London college with not just bikes, but cars flying as well. “Lots of kicks and fistfights ensured that everyone had a few injuries at any given point of time during shooting despite the best action directors and stunt choreographers on set,” Vivan says.

There is also a lot of payback for Varun’s twin act as Raja and Prem. Towards the end of the schedule, there was one sequence where Varun had to break a bottle on Vivan’s head, and since the unit had called for extra bottles, crew members decided to have a swing at it themselves. “It was such a roller coaster of a scene. After it wrapped up, I complained that I was the only one getting beaten up so Varun took a bottle to his head for the gag reel,” Vivan chortles.

The model-turned-TV actor, who was first spotted on the big screen as the vain cricketer Abhimanyu Singh in Chak De! India, caught Dhawan senior’s eye at Salman Khan’s farmhouse at a special screening of Hero. The veteran filmmaker was impressed by Vivan’s mercurial antagonist turn to Sooraj Pancholi’s debut leading man.

“But I never heard from him after two years of that. Then, last year, I received a call from casting director Mukesh Chhabra’s office that Davidji had a role for me. There was no way I was thinking twice about being a part of this cult franchise,” the 38-year-old actor signs off on that high note.