When it comes to creating cinematic universes that strike a chord with audiences, the Russo brothers have a proven track record. Best known for their four Marvel films including Avengers: Endgame, one of history's highest-grossing films, Anthony and Joe Russo began work on an international "spyverse" made for a global audience in 2018.
The first series, Citadel, aired in April last year on Prime Video. The big-budget series featured Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden as spies who work for an agency called Citadel. They are on the run from a powerful shadowy organisation called Manticore, which is set on destroying them.
While production for a second season of Citadel has begun, the spy universe has expanded with the launch of an Italian spin-off, Citadel: Diana on October 10, and an Indian version, Citadel: Honey Bunny, which will have its premiere on November 7.
"I told him: 'You had me at Russo,'" Citadel: Honey Bunny lead and Bollywood star Varun Dhawan said at a promotional event in Mumbai last week, recalling a phone call he had with director Krishna DK about his role.
Set in Mumbai in the 1990s, the Indian show serves as a prequel to Citadel and is the origin story of Chopra Jonas's character Nadia Sinh. Dhawan plays Bollywood stuntman Bunny who moonlights as a spy. When he recruits struggling actress Honey, played by Samantha Ruth Prabhu, for a simple mission, things do not go as planned and they are hurled into a high-stakes world of espionage. Years later, the now estranged Honey and Bunny reunite to protect their young daughter Nadia.
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, who are famously known as Raj & DK, direct all six episodes in the series.
Speaking to The National after the event in Mumbai, Dhawan elaborated on why he said yes to the role. "I just found the collaboration between Raj & DK and the Russo brothers so unique," he said. "Raj & DK are like brothers, the Russos are brothers and these two different sets of brothers coming together from across the seven seas to give us this crazy magnum opus, it sounded very exciting. It also sounded very new from everything I had ever done."
Dhawan, who made his Bollywood debut in 2012 has, until now, been known mostly for his romantic as well as dramatic and comedic roles in hit films such as Main Tera Hero (2014), Badlapur (2015) and Bhediya (2022). He said he relished the opportunity to do an all-out action series. "I was yearning and looking for directors who would try to change the game with me and make me do something different," he said.
Known for their experimental and quirky filmmaking style, Raj & DK's hits include their debut feature 99, India's first zombie film Go Goa Gone and the action comedy A Gentleman. They've also created two hit shows for Prime Video – spy drama The Family Man, now in its second season, and the action thriller Farzi.
"We always felt Varun was an action star waiting to happen," said Raj. "He had the agility and you could tell from his excitement when when you narrate something to him how much he wanted it. Also, we tend to make people do things they haven't done before. We hadn't seen Varun in a full-blooded action role, so we thought it was something new and fresh we could do."
Directing partner DK added: "He's just been preparing to be an action hero and was just doing all these romantic films in the meantime."
Samantha, who goes by her first name, however, had a history with the directors, having worked with them in the second season of The Family Man. Raj said: "Samantha had the skillset we needed for this role. We needed an action figure. She was always the first choice."
However, Samantha, who is a major star in South India, said she didn't think she had it in her to do action. "I didn't think I would enjoy getting beaten up so much," she added, laughing. "But I feel privileged to have these incredible mentors who have come in the form of directors who have really pushed me forward, right from my first film. And now this new avatar as an action star, Raj & DK can definitely take credit for."
While set for a global audience, Citadel: Honey Bunny is a quintessentially Indian story, Raj said. "A spy that you see in an otherwise western film will have certain personalities to them, James Bond being the epitome of it. We didn't want that," he explained. "We wanted to show an Indian guy who could be a spy. It's an unrealistic job in the first place, being an agent. We don't know spies. They are undercover for a reason. They are probably out there with the most boring jobs doing surveillance.
"So we wanted to have a relatable character like Bunny, who is working in Bollywood for the thrills of it. Hence you're already setting it in a very Indian context. Bollywood then comes into the show as a motif, and from there you can actually write an unbelievable sequence, and Bunny takes you into it and makes it more relatable."
Setting a major part of the show in the 1990s also visually grounds the series, DK added. "The time period was more as a canvas. We wanted to focus more on spies being spies at a very grounded level," he said. "We wanted to give them hand-to-hand combat and basic guns, not fancy weapons. So the period helps us to do that."
But, above all, Citadel: Honey Bunny is all heart, he said. "It's about the characters. I think you will love Honey, Bunny, you'll love Baba, KD and all the bad guys too," he added.
While raring to showcase his action star persona, Dhawan, meanwhile, is also thrilled by the prospect that the show will be available around the world. "I'm excited to show that India can do international level type of action," he said.
Citadel: Honey Bunny will be released on Prime Video on November 7
