Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; January 11, 2016)

Moments after his high-octane stage performance at an awards gala on Friday, Varun Dhawan apparently walked out of the event, his face drained of colour. Reason? The actor had just been told about his makeup artist’s son meeting with a fatal accident, say sources.

The youngster, who was nominated in the Best Actor (Male) category for Badlapur, did an aerial act with a human pyramid — a tribute to martyrs of the recent Pathankot terror attacks. But after receiving the sad news, he didn't wait for the Best Actor awards to be announced, although he had a good chance at winning it (the trophy was jointly given to Ranveer Singh for Bajirao Mastani and Amitabh Bachchan for Piku). Instead, he decided to be with the make up artist in his hour of grief.

“Varun treats his staff members like his own family. As soon as he heard about the death, he rushed to be by his make-up dada’s side,” says a source.

Varun was not available for comment, but a source close to the actor confirmed the story.