Varun Dhawan on his discomfort about being compared to his peers and seniors
Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; July 13, 2015)

Last week, Varun Dhawan had a bash to celebrate ABCD 2 hitting the Rs 100-crore mark. Whether he realises it or not, he has a lot more reasons to celebrate. Like the fact that he has given five hits in a row and has proved himself in every genre because every film was totally different from the other. Main Tera Hero (comedy), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (romance), Badlapur (thriller) and now a dance film, a genre that has never worked like this before. A producer recently pointed out that from the younger lot, he is the only one who can do comedy, the kind that others would turn their nose up at. That sets him apart. And in his next, Dilwale, he is working with Rohit Shetty. It doesn’t get bigger than that. Over to Varun...

The trade is comparing you to Ranbir Kapoor...
You can’t compare me to Ranbir Kapoor. How can you compare me to Ranbir Kapoor?

The trade is, I am not doing it.
The trade likes to compare that’s what they do, I guess. No, I think it’s wrong for me to be compared to Ranbir Kapoor. Look at the performances that guy has given. Ranbir is definitely someone to look up to. His work is very inspiring. Look at the films he picks, look at the way he works, the way he goes about his process... It’s amazing but I just can’t be competitive with Ranbir for reasons…

Who can you be competitive with?
Probably a lot of other people but I can’t be with Ranbir because I have grown up with him. He is one of my brother’s best friends; so I have been seeing Ranbir at home since childhood. He has given me advice and one of the best messages I got after ABCD 2 telling me he was proud of me. His message was almost like how my brother would write to me. So it’s... I don’t know... I find it very strange when they compare me to Ranbir or Arjun. There are very few people in the industry whom I am actually close to, genuinely like, and who I could say are my friends, or who I have known for a long time. So I guess Ranbir, Arjun, Salman bhai, like these are people that I have known since childhood and they are family, so I am a little sensitive about these relationships. I like to stay away from comparisons to them. They are way ahead of me, they are way bigger than me, all these people.”