From the day Border 2 trailer dropped, actor Varun Dhawan has been receiving backlash for his role. He plays a late war hero in Anurag Singh's upcoming war drama. The actor has faced backlash for his facial expressions and smile in the trailer, with many taking to social media to troll him and even creating memes about it. However, at the event, he got a thumbs-up for his portrayal of Major Hoshiyar Singh Dahiya in the war drama. The real hero's son, Colonel Sushil Kumar Dahiya, praised Varun's work, saying a few heartfelt words about the trailer for 'The Braves of the Soil – Tribute'. Varun had invited Colonel Dahiya to share his thoughts, making the moment even more special.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Colonel Dahiya said, "Thank you, Varun. Especially when we all saw this song visually, Mitti Ke Bete is an inspiration in a true sense for every soldier, and Ghar Lautke Naa Aaye is a tribute to soldiers' family and their feelings, and that has been blatantly portrayed."
He praised Varun’s performance in the film and said, "And secondly, the character that Varun is playing is that of my father and the way he has portrayed it on the silver screen, mind-blowing."
In a conversation with ETimes, Varun also reacted to the social media trollings. He said, "I believe that you shut down the noise and just let your work do the talking. Yeh sab cheezein chalti rehti hain (All these things keep happening). It doesn't really matter. Main iske liye kaam nahin karta hoon. Main jis cheez ke liye kaam karta hoon woh iss Friday ko pata chalega (I don't work for this. What I work for, you will find out this Friday)."
He emphasised, "Mujhe film pe bharosa hai. Ek achi film banana bohot zaroori hai. Obviously, numbers and all these things don't concern me. But I believe ki humne ek achi film banayi hai (I believe in the film. It's very important to make a good film. I'm not concerned with numbers. I believe we made a good film). That's the most important thing."
Meanwhile, Border 2 brings together Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty among others under one roof. Directed by Anurag Singh, the film releases in theatres on January 23, 2026.