Dhawan made his acting debut in 2012 with Johar's teen drama Student of the Year. He rose to prominence with starring roles in the romantic comedies Main Tera Hero (2014), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017); the action comedies Dilwale (2015), Dishoom (2016), and Judwaa 2 (2017); the dance film ABCD 2 (2015); and the drama Sui Dhaaga (2018). He also received praise for playing an avenger in the crime thriller Badlapur (2015) and an aimless man coping with loss in the drama October (2018). The success of all these eleven films was followed by commercial failures in the period drama Kalank (2019) and the musical dance-drama Street Dancer 3D (2020), as well as a critical failure in the Amazon Prime Video-presented comedy-drama Coolie No. 1 (2020).
