Varun Dhawan confirms that he got Shhuddhi on Salman Khan’s reccomendation…
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 4, 2015)

After Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan left Karan Johar’s Shhuddhi, the filmmaker finally found his leading stars in his ‘students’ Varun Dhawan an Alia Bhatt.

Varun confirms that it was Khan who asked Karan to get him on board. “Yes, Bhai did recommend my name to Karan. That’s what I heard,” he smiles. But the actor clarifies that it’s not a case of replacement. “I have not replaced him in the film. Bhai had certain date issues because of which he and Karan collectively decided that I should be a part of Shhuddhi. No one can replace Salman Khan. Now that I am doing this film, I have to make him proud first.”

There were rumours that Shuddhi’s plot is adapted from Amish Tripathi’s Immortals of Meluha. “All I can say is it’s not based on Lord Shiva and it’s not an adaptation. It’s a totally different story,” he insists.