Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is currently gearing up for the release of his much-anticipated film Baby John, which also stars Keerthy Suresh and Wamiqa Gabbi in the lead. His last theatrical release was Bhediya in 2022. Sharing the reason for the decrease in the amount of work, he revealed that the death of his driver, Manoj, impacted him both personally and professionally, which is why his work has become less.

Appearing on Ranveer Allahbadia's podcast on YouTube, Dhawan was seen getting emotional as he talked about his driver's sudden demise. Having worked with him for 26 years, the actor said that for the longest time, he was living in a bubble, but Manoj's death in 2022 changed his perspective completely. "There is a Varun Dhawan before and after 35. I used to see myself in an idealistic way—that I’m a hero, and I can save the day because I literally play a hero onscreen. But on that day, I failed myself."

Further, Varun revealed that Manoj passed away while they were working and he tried to save him by performing CPR.

"We took him to Lilavati Hospital and we got him there on time. It was like we saved someone’s life. But he passed away in my arms. It was hard to see how casual was his passing. It just happened like that."

"If you see my work also became less. I am having a release after two years. Baby John is releasing in theatres after two years. It definitely hit me hard," he said.

Varun shared that to cope with his grief, he turned to religious texts like the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita as he realised that he had to move forward. He acknowledged that while incidents like this shake a person up, one can't stay stagnant.

"I began reading the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, and Ramayana—just randomly—because I had so many questions," concluded Dhawan.