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Upala KBR (DNA; October 6, 2016)

Remember that time Sriram Raghavan told After Hrs that his next was not going to feature his Badlapur leading man Varun Dhawan. Well, now that we know who it’s going to feature (Harshvardhan Kapoor), it’s time we told you why Varun said no to the project.

By the filmmaker’s own admission at the time, “The film is in progress, but not with Varun. It is a black comedy with a thriller element to it,” he had said.

The edgy, dark thriller is about a musician who fakes being blind. The film will also star Tabu. A source tells us why Varun turned down the role, which the director believed was totally up VD’s alley. “There’s already another film, Kaabil, about a blind man (played by Hrithik Roshan) coming before that and Varun was uncomfortable playing a blind man so soon after that.”

Adds the source, “Playing a blind man entails a lot of research and time and the actor wants to focus on commercial entertainers right now. There would be obvious comparisons with Hrithik. Moreover, VD wasn’t convinced about the film’s commercial viability and so, turned it down.”

Harshvardhan was introduced to the filmmaker soon after and the young actor immediately lapped up the role.