With Citadel: Honey Bunny, Varun Dhawan got an opportunity to try his hand at high octane action. The actor did undergo thorough prep to nail his part on screen, but more than him, it was his co-star Samantha Ruth Prabhu who he feels might have had a tough time prepping for her role.
Talking at the press conference today, Varun said, “My preparation for stunts was very easy compared to Samantha’s because it’s in the public knowledge what she was battling when she got on this show.I would think it’s hard when I just started rehearsing, and I was like, ‘Raj & DK (directors of the show), are making me do this’. But when I would see the work ethic this girl had and what she was battling, that really inspired me. We became partners in making things happen. I’ve never been on shoot or creative process where I’m seeing a co-actor go through something, and you learn so much about human beings in general battling something and win. I feel she has inspired me. She’s an inspiration that how she has done an action show.”
In 2022, Samantha opened up about her Myositis diagnosis, where one’s immune system attack their muscles. Reacting to Varun’s comment, an emotional Samantha said, “I think Varun is being too kind. I’m going to cry now.”
Talking about his experience working on the show, Varun shared, “It was a learning experience. After Badlapur and October, I’m shooting on real locations, otherwise I would be shooting on sets, and glamorised (version), but on this show we shot in Bhandup, Thane, I thought Amazon (the OTT platform) will take us on sets but that didn’t happen, they made us shoot on the streets.”
Talking at the press conference today, Varun said, “My preparation for stunts was very easy compared to Samantha’s because it’s in the public knowledge what she was battling when she got on this show.I would think it’s hard when I just started rehearsing, and I was like, ‘Raj & DK (directors of the show), are making me do this’. But when I would see the work ethic this girl had and what she was battling, that really inspired me. We became partners in making things happen. I’ve never been on shoot or creative process where I’m seeing a co-actor go through something, and you learn so much about human beings in general battling something and win. I feel she has inspired me. She’s an inspiration that how she has done an action show.”
In 2022, Samantha opened up about her Myositis diagnosis, where one’s immune system attack their muscles. Reacting to Varun’s comment, an emotional Samantha said, “I think Varun is being too kind. I’m going to cry now.”
Talking about his experience working on the show, Varun shared, “It was a learning experience. After Badlapur and October, I’m shooting on real locations, otherwise I would be shooting on sets, and glamorised (version), but on this show we shot in Bhandup, Thane, I thought Amazon (the OTT platform) will take us on sets but that didn’t happen, they made us shoot on the streets.”
The show which is set to drop on Amazon Prime Video on Nov 7 marks Varun’s debut in the web series space. Speaking about the difference between working on a series and a film, Varun shared, “With the series you get longer time to be in the character. When you work with directors like Raj & DK they are concerned whether you are starting another film or ad. When I took up the show, they had strictly told me, ‘If you’re doing this, you cannot do another film or shoot no ads because this is your look, you’ll be only this’. I enjoyed (the process) little more because I got to be in the character of Bunny for a longer period of time. When you get so much time, the arc of the character comes out better.”