‘Varun’s Citadel Character Is Fully Bambaiya’

‘So
while
playing
Bunny
the
stuntman,
he
had
a
happy
time.’
‘He
used
to
do
these
impersonations
of
Sanjay
Dutt,
Mithun
Chakraborty,
Govinda
and
Anil
Kapoor.’

As
Raj
Nidimoru
and
Krishna
DK’s

Citadel:
Honey
Bunny
streamS
on
Amazon
Prime
Video,
the
spy
thriller’s
writer

Sita
R
Menon
takes
us
behind
the
scenes.

In
the
first
part
of
this
multi-part
interview,
Sita
revealed


how
Samantha
and
Varun
Dhawan
performed
the
action
scenes.

“Samantha
emotes
through
her
eyes.
When
people
saw
her
audition
scene,
many
kept
saying,
‘Oh
my
God,
she
acts
so
much
like
Sridevi.’
She
was
unsure
about
her
Hindi
when
she
came,
but
somehow,
she
studied
it
and
made
it
work
for
her,”
Sita
tells

Patcy
N/Rediff.com
in
the
second
segment
of
the
interview.

Were
Samantha
and
Varun
your
original
choices
when
you
started
writing

Citadel
in
2019?

When
you’re
writing,
you’re
not
thinking
of
anyone.
It
you
do
that,
it
colours
everything.

Our
story
has
two
timelines,
one
is
set
in
1992
and
the
other
in
2000.

Varun
loves
the
’90s
because
that’s
the
period
he
remembers
most
for
his
father
(director
David
Dhawan)’s
films.

He’s
well
aware
of
what
the
scenario
used
to
be
then.
So
while
playing
Bunny
the
stuntman,
he
had
a
happy
time.
He
used
to
do
these
impersonations
of
Sanjay
Dutt,
Mithun
Chakraborty,
Govinda
and
Anil
Kapoor.

His
character
is
fully

Bambaiya,
and
Varun
could
freely
express
himself
in
that
part.

Eight
years
later,
he’s
a
completely
different
human
being.
He’s
been
through
a
lot
of
hardships,
he’s
much
more
serious.

Samantha’s
role
was
written
for
a
Hindi
actor.
But
when
she
was
on,
we
changed
it
a
bit
to
make
it
sound
like
she’s
come
from
the
South
to
Bombay,
to
try
her
luck
in
the
film
industry.

That
took
care
of
her
accent,
and
the
fact
that
she
speaks
a
mix
of
Hindi
and
English.

What’s
the
atmosphere
like
on
a
Raj
and
DK
set?

Most
Indian
films
sets
are
chaotic
because
there
are
some
200
people
floating
around.

So
there’s
a
lot
of
noise.
Even
when
you
say
‘silence’,
200
people
are
saying
‘silence’!
So
there’s
a
lot
of
noise.

Raj
and
DK
keep
their
sets
very
chill.

It’s
usually
three
takes
for
each
sequence.

First,
they
let
the
actor
do
what
they
want
because
that’s
the
first
instinct.

Of
course,
they’ll
brief
them.

The
second
and
third,
if
there
are,
will
be
tweaks
and
feedback.

Having
worked
with
Shahid
Kapoor,
Sidharth
Malhotra,
Varun
Dhawan,
Saif
Ali
Khan,
Kunal
Kemmu,
Samantha,
Raashii
Khanna,
Vijay
Sethupathi,
Jacqueline
Fernandez,
what
impresses
you
most
about
them?

Kunal
is
extremely
spontaneous
and
so
good
at
improvising.
It’s
amazing
to
watch
him.

Saif
is
a
director’s
actor.
After
every
take,
he
will
look
at
the
director
and
ask,
is
that
good?

And
if
there’s
even
the
slightest
hesitation
on
the
director’s
face,
or
even
my
face,
he’ll
ask
to
do
one
more.
He’s
always
out
to
please
you
to
get
the
best
possible
emotion
in
that
sequence.

Siddharth
is
fun
and
chill.
He’s
so
good
looking
on
camera
that
it’s
just
nice
to
watch
him.

Shahid
internalises
his
role
very
deeply.
He
does
his
internal
researching
in
his
head
about
his
character.
We
don’t
shoot
linear,
but
he
will
know
exactly
which
scene
that
character
is
coming
from.

The
funniest
thing
about
Shahid
is
that
you
will
never
see
the
script
in
his
hand
because
he’s
committed
everything
by
heart.
He’s
done
his
job
before
he
comes
onto
the
set.

Varun
just
submitted
himself
to
Raj,
DK
and
even
me
in
terms
of
who
his
character
is.

He
has
this
amazing
quality
where
he
comes
in
knowing
that
he
will
ace
that
sequence.
We
used
to
tell
him
that
suppose
you
come
in
completely
blank,
maybe
you
will
surprise
yourself
because
it’s
great
to
leave
it
to
spontaneity
too.

Vijay
(Sethupathi)
was
a
dream
to
work
with.
He’s
so
natural.
The
thing
about
Vijay
is
that,
of
course,
he’s
Tamilian
and
he’s
supposed
to
be
this
cop
in
Bombay
(in
Farzi).
Most
South
Indians
in
Bombay
tend
to
retain
that
South
Indian
flavour,
especially
cops.
They
talk
like
how
Vijay
was
talking,
like
a
full
Tamilian.

Not
knowing
Hindi
so
well,
he
made
that
whole
fumbling
and
mumbling
work
for
him.

I
didn’t
shoot
with
Jacqueline,
so
I
don’t
know
her.
But
I
do
know
that
she’s
also
somebody
who
likes
to
please
everyone.
She’s
a
people’s
person.

Raashii
is
studious.
She’s
like
this
student,
learning
her
lines
and
making
sure
it’s
all
right.

Samantha
emotes
through
her
eyes.
When
people
saw
her
audition
scene,
many
kept
saying,
‘Oh
my
God,
she
acts
so
much
like
Sridevi.’

She
was
unsure
about
her
Hindi
when
she
came,
but
somehow,
she
studied
it
and
made
it
work
for
her.

Priyanka
Chopra’s

Citadel
did
not
do
that
well.
Did
that
bother
you
while
making

Honey
Bunny?

We
had
almost
finished
shooting
when
the
first

Citadel
released.

No
matter
how
that
series
did
or
how
the
others
will
do,
we
were
just
focused
on
what
we
are
doing.

=

Film/OTT
writing
has
changed
over
the
years.
Sex
is
written
openly.
Gay
characters
are
not
stereotyped
anymore.
What
do
you
think
about
this
change?
How
difficult
is
it
to
write
an
intimate
scene?

Intimate
scenes
are
very
difficult.
I
can’t.
It’s
very
tough
for
me
to
write.

All
I
say
is
they
get
intimate.
That’s
all.

Raj
and
DK
don’t
like
to
include
sex
because
it’s
gratuitous.

We
are
not
for
gratuitous
skin
show
or
gratuitous
sex
scenes.

If
a
kiss
is
there,
it
means
something
to
the
story
or
the
character.

Gay
characters,
honestly,
these
things
are
very
sensitive.

I
would
think
a
hundred
times
before
I
wrote
a
gay
character
or
a
mentally
challenged
character
because
it
requires
a
lot
of
research
and
empathy.

That’s
the
reason
I
shy
away
entirely
from
stories
that
have
rape.
I
just
can’t.

It’s
just
terrifying
for
me,
as
a
woman,
to
handle
subjects
like
that
because
it’s
so
sensitive.

You
were
a
journalist,
like
your
father.
When
did
you
start
getting
attracted
to
writing
scripts?

I
have
to
thank
Nikhil
(Lakshman,
Editor-In-Chief,


Rediff.com)
and



Rediff.com
for
that.
I
was
interviewing
Raj
and
DK
for
a
film,
and
we
got
talking.

One
thing
led
to
another
and
they
said
they
had
just
finished
the
first
draft
for
their
first
full
length
feature
film,

Flavors,
and
asked
me
if
I
wanted
to
take
a
look.

Honestly,
I
swear
I
didn’t
have
any
plans
to
get
into
the
film
industry
at
all.

They
gave
me
a
title
because
they
didn’t
know
what
to
call
me.
They
called
me
‘Executive
Producer’.

Everything
from
script
consulting,
to
writing
lyrics,
supervising
the
music,
the
whole
sound
process,
I
handled
the
whole
post-production
in
India.

It
started
from
there
and
I
felt
it
was
very
exciting.

I
would
manage
my
job
with
films
on
the
side.

Then
I
quit


Rediff
and
went
on
to

DNA
(the
newspaper),
then
Network
18
and
Star.

By
the
time
I
went
to
Star,
the
job
demands
were
very
high.
It
got
to
a
point
where
it
had
been
almost
two
years
since
I
actually
wrote
anything.

So
these
two
(Raj
and
DK)
kept
saying,
why
don’t
you
quit?

I
didn’t
want
to
because
I
was
too
scared
to
lose
the
security
of
a
job.

Finally,
I
said,
okay,
I’ll
take
the
leap.

After
I
quit,
the
fact
that
I
didn’t
get
to
see
a
salary
at
the
end
of
every
month
was
very
terrifying
for
me.

I
hit
a
personal
low
when
my
parents
fell
ill
and
I
had
to
take
care
of
them.
I
just
forgot
about
work
at
that
point.

Before
I
knew
it,
almost
six
years
had
passed.

Which
meant
that
I
lost
a
lot
of
time
that
I
could
have
capitalised
and
done
a
lot.

But
that’s
okay;
I
did
it
for
family.

When
I
got
back,
I
didn’t
know
what
I
was
coming
back
to.
I
had
no
project
in
hand.

Suddenly
two
assignments
(Go
Goa
Gone
and

Happy
Ending)
came
but
both
fell
through.
That
was
the
darkest
period
of
my
life.

I
just
didn’t
know
what
I
was
going
to
do.

That’s
when

Citadel
came
in
2019
and
in
mid-2020,

Farzi
started.

So
the
entire
COVID
was
split
between

Citadel
and

Farzi,
and
consulting
on
another
Raj
and
DK
show
called

Gulkanda
Tales.

So
all
of
a
sudden
from
doing
nothing,
I
didn’t
know
where
the
days
and
nights
were
going!
But
that
was
a
good
thing
because
it
meant
there
was
work.

How
did
you
handle
this
low
point
in
your
life?

It
was
very,
very,
scary.
I
didn’t
know
what
I’m
going
to
do;
I
didn’t
have
any
assignment
in
hand.

I
wrote
the
pitches
for

Citadel
—
they
loved
it
—
but
I
had
to
still
write
the
whole
thing.

Would
I
be
able
to
deliver
because
it
had
been
a
while?

For
the
longest
time,
I
would
think
I’m
a
fake
person
because
being
a
writer
is
the
most
terrifyingly
lonely
place
to
be
in.
You’re
filled
with
self-doubt
because
you’re
writing
for
yourself.

You
don’t
know
how
it
will
be
perceived
by
others,
like
the
director,
the
producer,
the
studio…

So
you’re
writing
and
thinking,
will
they
even
like
this?

All
these
doubts
play
on
your
mind
all
the
time.

Even
during

Citadel,
sometimes
there
would
be
times
when
I
would
not
do
my
best
work
because
you’re
also
finding
a
way
in.

Perseverance
is
the
only
thing
(that
helps).