Varun Dhawan

Dhawan at the trailer launch of Student of the Year in 2012

Dhawan made his acting debut in 2012 with Johar's teen film Student of the Year alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt.[12] He was cast as Rohan Nanda, the teenage son of a rich businessman, who competes with his girlfriend (Bhatt) and best friend (Malhotra) to win an annual school championship. Film critic Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama found Dhawan to be "a talent one can't help but marvel at" and CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand added: "It's Varun Dhawan who stands out with a confident, charming turn, able to tackle both comical and vulnerable scenes with ease".[13][14] Student of the Year was a commercial success, grossing ₹1.09 billion (US$14 million) worldwide.[15]

Dhawan next starred in the romantic comedy Main Tera Hero (2014), a remake of the Telugu film Kandireega, which was produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and directed by his father David.[16][17] He played an impetuous brat who is involved in a love triangle. Raedita Tandon of Filmfare commended Dhawan on his comic timing and compared him favourably to Govinda and Prabhudheva.[18] The film emerged as a commercial success grossing 780 million Indian rupees worldwide.[19]

Dhawan then played Rakesh, a flirtatious Punjabi boy who engages in a romantic affair with an engaged Punjabi woman, in Shashank Khaitan's romantic comedy Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Co-starring Bhatt, the film was described as a tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) by Johar, who served as producer.[20] Rohit Khilnani of India Today praised his screen presence, and Nandini Ramnath of Mint noted how much he stood out in the "few quieter scenes" of the film.[21][22] Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania emerged as one of top-grossing Indian productions of the year, earning ₹1.11 billion (US$14 million) worldwide.[15]

The crime thriller Badlapur (2015) from director Sriram Raghavan saw Dhawan play Raghu, a father who over the course of 15 years avenges the murder of his wife and son.[23] Portraying Raghu was a "terrifying" experience for Dhawan, who "slipped into depression as after a point it no longer felt like I was acting in a film".[24] Raja Sen of Rediff.com praised his acting range, writing that he "sheds his easy-breezy charm — but, crucially, not his slightly hapless natural likeability — and bubbles up volcanically, his eyes frequently doing the talking."[25] He received a Filmfare Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance.[26]

Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor at a promotional event for ABCD 2 in 2015

Dhawan next starred opposite Shraddha Kapoor in the dance film ABCD 2, in which he portrayed the real-life character of Kings United founder Suresh Mukund, a dancer from Mumbai who went on to win the 2012 World Hip Hop Dance Championship.[27] Critic Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters criticised the feature, finding Dhawan to be the only asset of the film, writing that "except for the honest note he strikes, the rest of the film could have been just a bunch of music videos".[28] ABCD 2 earned ₹1.67 billion (US$21 million) worldwide;[15] the film's commercial performance led Box Office India to consider it an emergence of Dhawan's star power.[29]

Dhawan's final appearance that year was in Rohit Shetty's ensemble action drama Dilwale, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Kriti Sanon, in which he played the younger sibling of Khan's character.[30] Despite mixed reviews from critics, the film proved to be a commercial success, grossing over ₹3.75 billion (US$47 million) worldwide , emerging as Dhawan's highest-grossing release and one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films.[31][32] He next appeared in the action cop comedy Dishoom (2016), directed by Rohit, alongside John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez, as a rookie Indo-Emirati cop.[33] Despite mixed reviews, the film proved to be successful at the box office grossing over ₹1.2 billion (US$15 million) worldwide.[34]

Dhawan reunited with Khaitan and Bhatt for the romantic comedy Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), in which he played the titular character, a chauvinist fiancé to Bhatt's character. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote that Dhawan "impresses as a boy-struggling-to-be-a-man".[35] In addition, Tushar Joshi of Daily News and Analysis noted that "Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt prove that on screen chemistry can be enough sometimes to keep you engaged in an average plot with a predictable narrative".[36] He received his second Best Actor nomination at Filmfare for the film.[37] Later in 2017, he starred in his father's Judwaa 2, a reboot of his 1997 Salman Khan starrer Judwaa, alongside Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu.[38] Both Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2 proved to be commercial successes, earning over ₹2 billion (US$25 million) each.[31] Forbes published that with nine consecutive box office hits and a 100% success ratio, Dhawan had established himself as a "bona fide Bollywood superstar".[1][2]

Dhawan had two releases in 2018, Shoojit Sircar's drama October and Sharat Katariya's social problem film Sui Dhaaga.[3][4] October, written by Sircar's frequent collaborator Juhi Chaturvedi, saw him portray Danish Walia, an aimless hotel management trainee whose life undergoes a series of changes when his co-worker goes into a coma. In a highly positive review, Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost commended Dhawan for "effac[ing] his starry swagger and trademark cutesiness to play Dan"; Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times considered it to be his finest performance to date and wrote that "his humour is innate, but his understanding of pain and how it affects the human behaviour is even better".[39][40] Sui Dhaaga featured Dhawan and Anushka Sharma respectively as Mauji and Mamta, a newly-wed couple in rural India who begin their own small-scale clothing business. Udita Jhunjunwala of Mint reviewed, "Dhawan has perfected the template for playing a simpleton. He brings a similar naiveté to Mauji, albeit endearingly."[41] For October, he received a nomination for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor.[42]

Dhawan and frequent co-star Alia Bhatt promoting Kalank in 2019

Dhawan's sole screen appearance in 2019 was in Abhishek Varman's ensemble period drama Kalank, in which he was once again paired opposite Bhatt.[43] Set in the 1940s prior to the partition of India, the film featured him as a womanising blacksmith; for the physical demands of the part, he trained extensively despite suffering from a knee injury and hamstring tear, and insisted on performing his own stunts.[44] Labelling it as the "meatiest role of his career", Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote, "Dhawan exudes zest as he ventures well beyond his comfort zone and consistently strikes the right notes".[45] He began the new decade by reuniting with Kapoor and D'Souza to play an arrogant British-Indian dancer who heads the titular crew in the dance film Street Dancer 3D (2020), which Namrata Joshi of The Hindu termed a "compilation of indistinguishable performances".[46] Both Kalank and Street Dancer 3D did not perform well commercially, causing his career to suffer a setback.[47][48]

Dhawan next teamed with his father for a third time in Coolie No. 1, a 2020 adaptation of the Govinda-starrer 1995 film of the same name, which owing to the COVID-19 pandemic was streamed online on Amazon Prime Video, skipping theatrical release.[49] Critical and public reception to the film was negative, largely in light of the nepotism debate due to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.[50] In a scathing review, Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express called the film a "zero wit, no flair" disaster, noting that Dhawan had "channelled Govinda in many of his films much better".[51] Dhawan then starred alongside Kiara Advani in Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022), a comedy-drama about divorce. Writing for Hindustan Times, Monika Rawal Kukreja commended him for "add[ing] life to a complex character".[52] It earned ₹1.35 billion (US$17 million) worldwide.[53]

Dhawan will next star in Dinesh Vijan's comedy horror film Bhediya, co-starring Sanon and directed by Amar Kaushik.[54] He will then star in Nitesh Tiwari’s action film Bawaal opposite Janhvi Kapoor.[55] Dhawan will also be part of the Indian spinoff to the American drama series Citadel, created by the Russo brothers and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.[56]