On Koffee With Karan 9, Varun Dhawan praised Ranbir Kapoor's parenting of daughter Raha and recalled Alia Bhatt talking about wanting kids back when she was 19.
Varun Dhawan just handed Ranbir Kapoor a compliment so big it came with self-deprecation attached.
On the third episode of Koffee With Karan 9, alongside Janhvi Kapoor, Varun was asked by host Karan Johar about his equation with his Student of the Year co-stars, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra, given the dating history among the three of them back in the day. Varun said there's no awkwardness left, just warmth, and then the conversation drifted to fatherhood.
"When I see Ranbir as a parent, he's amazing with his daughter. He's so good as a father that I feel really ashamed," Varun said, according to Bollywood Hungama.
That's not a dig. It's Varun holding himself to a standard he thinks Ranbir is clearing with ease. Janhvi wasn't having the self-flagellation though, and jumped in to remind him that he's "also very good as a father" with his own daughter, Lara. Varun agreed, sort of, before admitting he and two-year-old Lara "get into a lot of fights." The subject of these fights: Michael Jackson. Lara wants Beat It on loop, reportedly as many as 68 times by her father's count, and Varun wants her to branch out because, in his words, Jackson "has a bigger career than Beat It."
A debut batch that's all parents now
Karan pointed out something neat during the episode: all three Student of the Year debutants are now parents to daughters. Varun and wife Natasha Dalal have Lara, born June 2024. Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani welcomed daughter Saraya in 2025. Alia and Ranbir had Raha back on November 6, 2022, months after their April 2022 wedding.
Varun also went back in time to their Student of the Year shoot, recalling that Alia used to talk about wanting children even then. "I always knew Alia would be the first to have a child. Since we did Student of the Year, she had always mentioned that she would love to have a child. I found it bizarre because she was a kid," he said. Janhvi reminded him Alia was all of 19 at the time. Varun admitted he'd actually expected a different order altogether, Alia first, then Sidharth, then himself, and got that wrong by one.
Alia and Ranbir have mostly kept Raha out of the public eye since 2022, with the occasional glimpse shared on their own terms. Ranbir hasn't responded publicly to Varun's comments, and given how Koffee With Karan episodes tend to ripple through the week, it won't be a surprise if he's asked about it next time he's in front of a camera, or a mic.
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