‘I Get To Kick Some Asses Too’

“If
there
is
a
spy
series,
there
is
always
a
male
character
doing
cool
action
and
some
cool
dialogues.
What
sets
this
apart
is
that
I
get
to
kick
some
asses
too,”
Samantha
said
at
the
trailer
launch
of
her
new
spy
Web
series

Citadel:
Honey
Bunny.

Varun
Dhawan
claims
he
kept
his
fingers
crossed
for
Samantha
to
be
in
the
project.

“In
my
heart,
I
was
manifesting
Samantha
will
be
a
part
of
the
series,”
he
says.

“I
was
her
fan
when
I
saw

Makkhi.
After

Family
Man,
I
wanted
to
work
with
her.”

“Sikander
Kher
use
to
bully
me
when
I
was
a
kid
and
now,
I
share
screen
space
with
him,”
he
adds.

“When
I
saw

Family
Man,
I
called
Raj
and
DK
(Directors
Raj
Nidimoru
and
Krishna
DK).
Sam
was
also
in
it
(Season
2)
and
I
was
gushing
about
the
action
scenes.
I
have
never
done
action
in
any
film
before,
and
at
that
time,
they
told
me
they
are
doing
something
with
the
Russos.
They
had
me
at
Russos!
I
met
Raj
and
came
to
know
that
the
possibilities
are
endless.”

Citadel:
Honey
Bunny
is
a
prequel
to
Priyanka
Chopra’s

Citadel.

Kashvi
Majmundar
plays
little
Nadia,
Samantha
and
Varun
Dhawan’s
daughter,
which
means
that
the
actors
play
Priyanka’s
parents.

Kashvi
is
very
confident
and
she
says,
“I
was
thrilled
to
know
that
I
would
be
playing
young
Priyanka
Chopra
because
she
is
an
all
rounder.
She
acts,
she
dances,
she
sings
and
I
act,
dance
and
sing
too.
So
it’s
a
perfect
match.

“And
I
am
really
lucky
to
have
such
good
looking
onscreen
parents.”

Since
it’s
a
prequel,
the
show
is
set
in
the
’90’s.

“We
didn’t
get
cool
gadget,
but
still
had
a
lot
of
fun,”
Varun
says.

“Bunny
is
an
orphan,
Kay
Kay
(Menon)
sir
plays
my
Baba,
who
is
a
mentor
figure
for
me.
There
is
a
Hindi
film
industry
backdrop
in
the
series.
I
love
the
’90s
because
my
father
made
so
many
films
in
that
period,
so
I
would
suggest
Raj
and
DK,
why
don’t
you
use
the
songs
from
Subhash
Ghai’s
films?”

Samantha
feels
there
should
be
equal
playing
grounds
as
“intelligence,
talent
and
strength
decides
everything,
irrespective
of
your
gender.
There
is
also
opportunity
to
work
with
talents
from
across
the
world.
Everything
seems
bright.”

Sita
Menon,
the
writer
of
the
show,
says
how
they
wanted
to
connect

Citadel
with
the

Honey
Bunny:
“We
thought
of
bringing
in
young
Nadia
but
we
had
a
question:
How
do
we
take
the
story
forward?

“That’s
when
we
decided
to
add
the
story
of
Nadia’s
parents.
We
all
know
James
Bond
but
we
don’t
know
who
his
parents
are.
That
was
the
backdrop
on
which
we
built

Honey
Bunny.”

“Only
South
Indians
are
taking
notice
of
me,”
Varun
says.

“I
started
working
with
Raj
and
DK
and
Sam.
Next,
I
am
working
with
Atlee,
Keerthy
Suresh
as
well
as
Janhvi
(Kapoor).
The
reason
I
am
saying
this
is
that
during
the
lockdown,
I
met
Aditya
Chopra.
We
played
badminton.
They
were
making

Tiger
at
that
time.

“I
asked
him
sir,
‘Why
don’t
you
make
action
films
with
younger
talent
like
me?’
He
said,
no,
we
can’t,
because
you
are
not
at
that
place
where
I
can
give
you
such
a
big
budget.
So
I
asked
him
the
budget
and
he
gave
me
a
figure.
So
when
this
opportunity
came,
I
asked
what
the
budget
was.
So
I
was
really
grateful
to
Raj
and
DK.”

Raj
shares
how
Varun
was
all
charged
for
the
action
sequences.

“On
the
very
first
day,
he
was
hung
upside
down
for
an
hour
for
a
scene
and
we
realised
that
he
was
an
action
hero
waiting
to
burst
out.
We
got
to
know
Samantha’s
prowess
in

Family
Man
2 so
suddenly,
it
became
a
lethal
combo.
Samantha
and
Varun
did
all
the
action
on
their
own.”

Citadel:
Honey
Bunny
will
stream
from
November
7
on
Amazon
Prime
Video.

Reportage:
Patcy
N.
Photographs:
Hitesh
Harisinghani.
Videos:
Afsar
Dayatar.