‘DECORATING XMAS TREE THIS TIME WITH LARA AND JOEY’

From gratitude and togetherness to his own nice-and-naughty list and cheesecake on the menu, actor Varun Dhawan opens up on what the festive season means to him as he poses for us
Natasha Coutinho (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 25, 2025)

Actor Varun Dhawan slips into full festive mode on Christmas today, turning Santa for a special shoot with HT City — complete with a sleigh and plenty of cheer. “Christmas time means togetherness, celebrating friends and family,” he shares.

Looking back at the year gone by, Varun admits it hasn’t been smooth sailing: “2025 has been a very testing time for me on many counts, but I’m grateful God gave me the strength to go through it and made me stronger.”

When the conversation turns festive fun, the actor reveals his cinematic Christmas wish. If given a chance to star in a remake, he’d happily step into “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes in Jingle All The Way (1996)”.

As for holiday duties at home, he is candid about where his strengths lie. While gift-wrapping, cooking and cleaning may not be his forte, he makes up for it enthusiastically at the dining table. “I definitely put on a few pounds during the holiday season,” he laughs. His festive favourites include “hot chocolate with marshmallows and cheesecake” — though he admits “kalakand, may not be Christmassy”, but is still a seasonal indulgence he can’t resist.

While actor Varun Dhawan is yet to decide where he is jetting off this holiday season, he is hoping for a surprise from his wife Natasha Dalal. “It has to be somewhere close to home, I don’t like travelling too far when I get time off. I would like to go to Alibaug (Maharashtra), I hope she’s reading this.”

Speaking of a Christmas tradition he wants to maintain with his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lara, he says, “Hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree is fun, and that’s something I want to do with her and Joey (his pet dog).”

The actor also reveals he’s planning to buy Joey a cute sweater this holiday season. “But God has also gifted them with thick fur, so they do fine during winters.”

Further, he went down memory lane to recall his most unlikely Christmas. “London was one. It was actually very lonely. There was no one on the streets, and it looked like everyone had left town on Xmas morning,” he says.

Ask him about which other Indian actor would make for the perfect Santa Claus if he had to cast for a movie, and he names his Dilwale (2015) co-actor Varun Sharma, saying, “He would make for a nice Punjabi Santa.”

On a celebratory note, the actor wishes all the readers of HTCity a joyful Christmas and a fabulous new year.