No negative reference against Pakistan in Dishoom, clarifies Varun Dhawan

There was a strong rumour doing the rounds that Rohit Dhawan’s film, 'Dishoom' has a character based on one of India's most favourite cricketers, Virat Kohli. The film which stars John Abraham and Varun Dhawan revolves around how a prominent Indian cricketer gets kidnapped 36 hours before the final match between India and Pakistan. The character of the cricketer in the film is incidentally called Viraj Sharma and is essayed by Saqib Saleem.

At the trailer launch of 'Dishoom', Rohit clarified, "The cricketer in the film is India's top batsman, just like Virat Kohli. He is athletic looking, extremely attractive, just like Virat Kohli. He has the habit of winning matches which would otherwise be lost, just like Virat Kohli. But his name is Viraj Sharma and he is not Virat Kohli."

Varun said when he met Virat, he did talk about the film to him. The actor said, "When I met Virat, because we both support the same team in football, I told him about it. He knows we are making something on these lines. He is quite cool about it."

Rohit added that it is a fictional subject whose script was written way back. He said, "It is a completely fictional script. It was written years ago. He is the top cricketer in our country right now so you can let your imaginations fly and think whoever you want him to be."

Varun also said that the film is not against Pakistan and does not show the country in poor light. He said, "I would like to clear this. There is no negative reference against Pakistan or any community. It is a very positive representation. In fact, what we are trying to show is that for certain people, money is the religion. It's not being an Indian, Pakistani, Hindu, Muslim or Christian. In the capitalistic world that we live in, money is the biggest driving force for most crimes."