Varun Dhawan’s Baby John was released in theatres on Christmas, December 25. Oh boy. The film has witnessed a promising start at the box office.
On its opening day, the Kaless directorial made Rs 12.50 crore, reported Sacnilk. Baby John saw 24.97% occupancy for Hindi screenings.
Baby John marks Varun Dhawan’s biggest opening in the past 5 years. Before this, his 2019 release Kalank, also featuring Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Sonakshi Sinha, earned Rs 21.60 crore on its opening day. Varun’s last few theatrical releases including Street Dancer 3D (2020), Jug Jugg Jeeyo (2022), and Bhediya (2022) failed to hit the double-digit opening.
A day before Baby John‘s release, Varun Dhawan visited the Mahakaleshwar Temple In Ujjain with film’s producer Atlee. The actor shared a photo from his visit to the holy shrine on Instagram. The image features Varun offering prayers to the deity. The note attached to the image read, “Blessed. Jai Mahakal.”
Produced by Atlee, his wife Priya, Murad Khetani, and Jyoti Deshpande, Baby John is a remake of the 2016 Tamil action thriller Theri. The film showcases Varun Dhawan in a never-seen-before avatar.
In an interview with News18, Varun Dhawan shared that he performed most of the stunts in Baby John, not his body double. He said, “The scale of action in this film is massive, and I’ve personally performed nearly all the stunts myself, with minimal use of a body double.” The actor added that the action directors had him hanging upside down for over six hours, proving his “endurance like never before”.
Talking about director Kalees, Varun Dhawan said, “Working with Kalees was a challenge in the best way—he pushed me to explore my physical limits every day.”
He continued, “I remember Atlee stepping in at one point to remind us to prioritise safety and not let the pursuit of perfection lead to unnecessary risks. It’s been a tough but fulfilling journey.”
Aside from Varun Dhawan, Baby John‘s cast also includes Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi and Jackie Shroff in pivotal roles. The film is currently facing stiff competition from Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 at the box office.