The title Badlapur is a reference to two things: one, "badla" means "revenge" in Hindi, and two, the protagonist sees a "badlav" i.e. "transformation" in himself in the film. Also, Badlapur is the name of a railway station in Mumbai, that is often used as a location for arrival and departure from Pune, where the main events in the film take place.
Movie is inspired by Italian Noir novel Death's Dark Abyss by Massimi Carlotto.
Director Sriram Raghavan was narrating the script to producer Dinesh Vijan, when Varun Dhawan called. Dinesh Vijan invited Varun Dhawan over as he was in the vicinity. Sriram Raghavan narrated the script to Varun Dhawan, who instantly liked the script and asked all the right questions, thus leading to the accidental casting of Varun Dhawan.
Nawazuddin was not given any dialogues, he said whatever he wanted and improvised many scenes.
Varun Dhawan signed Badlapur after his debut movie Student of the Year.