 "EXCLUSIVE! Varun Dhawan on Citadel: Honey Bunny & working with Samantha Ruth Prabhu: ‘Hindi film industry should get credit also for showcasing women…’ | Not Just Bollywood")
Recently at an interview with Firstpost, Varun Dhawan spoke on the gender arc of Hindi cinema and how it is changing for good. He plays a stuntman who also is a spy. Set in the nineties Citadel: Honey Bunny will be releasing on November 7.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
Watch the exclusive interview here:
On the gender arc and how the Hindi film industry is changing for good?
I think we are definitely pushing the envelope on how we are showcasing things and most importantly the stories. The Hindi film industry should get credit also for showcasing women in that way. Coming back to your question, if you see Crew this year, which are led by three women and now we have Samantha in the lead in Citadel. So it’s all I think there’s a conscious effort that, we are pushing our women also in the forefront, but we are pushing the ones also which we know have that superstar kind of quality. And Samantha Ruth Prabhu has had years and years of work experience and success. It’s not happening overnight is what I’m trying to say. It’s been years of years of success, fan following, hard work, doing a lot of commercial mass cinema that has got her such a big fan base. And I guess Raj &DK are such craftsmen who can write these roles in the best possible way.
There’s a Citadel universe, and there’s a Raj & DK universe. What do you have to say about getting into both universes? For me, the Raj &DK universe is the most important. And why do you say so?
Honestly, when we did this, there was no real, there is relationship obviously to the larger, universe with Nadia’s character. And with Priyanka Chopra often, I would make jokes about it. But I think the way they’ve made this and the way they’ve come out, there was no baggage of what has been done before. Citadel: Honey Bunny is set in the nineties. So we are kind of setting the way the story has to be told. You know? So we had no hang-ups in acting in a certain way or setting it up in a certain way. It was completely original home-grown in the style of execution, at least.
Your experience on working with Raj & DK?
I think that every time I work with them on a project, there’s a new facet that I discover and that I get to tap into, because they while they’re really, really sweet, they’re also hard taskmasters, and they tend to, like, really push you to deliver your best, which is a great thing.
Varun, tell us a little bit about your role?
I am playing Rahi Gambhir, who is Bunny, a stuntman. Now there is a twist to this. I play a stuntman, but actually I’m an agent. So I love having that dual life, you know, because in our real life too, all of us kind of live dual lives. How we are at home with our friends and near and dear ones is not the way you are at work? Right? So I loved this whole idea of you know, having these two personalities, these two lives differently. I had lots of fun working with brilliant craftsmen and working with guns and learning how to use them was really cool.
WATCH the trailer of Citadel: Honey Bunny here:
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