Nine years ago, Varun Dhawan unleashed his angsty side in Sriram Raghavan's revenge thriller Badlapur. However, no filmmaker cast him as effectively and imaginatively in an action role, until this year. 2024 heralds the action era of Varun Dhawan as he'll be seen in two consecutive action projects – Raj & DK's period spy thriller show Citadel: Honey Bunny and Kalees' action thriller Baby John, co-produced and conceptualised by Atlee of Jawan-fame.

Samantha's manifestation

Varun's discussions with Raj & DK for Citadel: Honey Bunny began after he called them to congratulate for The Family Man season 2 in 2021. He was blown away by the action in the show, and recommended the show's formidable antagonist, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, to be the Honey to his Bunny. In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times, Varun reveals that ironically, he also has Samantha to thank when it comes to his long-awaited action era.

“What I do feel is that both Citadel: Honey Bunny and Baby John are Samantha's conviction for me. We'd spoken about something and it's happened. I have to thank Samantha for that, 100%. She gave me a lot of confidence that I'm on the right track. It matters a lot,” says Varun. Samantha accepts the credit and tells us, “It's my manifestation for Varun. I feel like this will be Varun's year.” Varun points out that he's not the only actor to straddle the diverse action worlds of Raj & DK and Atlee. “Ironically, Samantha has worked with both the directors in the past,” Varun says.

“They're very different. The common factor is that they really believe in the worlds they create. There's absolute honesty in the worldbuilding. Which is why Atlee as well keeps hitting blockbuster after blockbuster because it might be larger than life, it might be fantastical even, but there's conviction in every character, every frame, every situation. As actors, we just submit to that conviction,” says Samantha, who starred in Atlee's 2016 Tamil action thriller Theri. Varun also agrees that the conviction is what binds Raj & DK with Atlee, despite their respective ‘scientific’ and ‘massy’ action styles.

Varun as a stunt guy

Varun isn't a virgin action hero. He has attempted action before, whether it was athletics in his 2012 debut film, Karan Johar's campus caper Student of the Year, action blended with comedy in David Dhawan's Main Tera Hero (2014) and Judwaa 2 (2017), a gory streak in Badlapur, good ol' buddy fighting in Rohit Shetty's Dilwale (2015) and Rohit Dhawan's Dishoom (2016), and most recently, CGI-created stunts in Amar Kaushik's creature film Bhediya (2022). Baby John is sure to launch him as a massy action star, but in Citadel: Honey Bunny, he ventures into a new-age action subgenre – the stuntman saving the day, a la Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) or the more recent David Leitch's The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling.

“They're tough, they're tough as hell man. They have to have main character energy. They're doing stunts which are very daredevil. They're really doing it on the spot, there's no CG involved. I'm sure they get the stunt wrong sometimes, but they just get up and go back at it. I think ‘fearless’ is what comes to my mind," says Varun about playing a stunt guy. The first glimpse of Bunny, his character in the show, is indicative of that – where he gets the proper hero entry, before he's pulled back by a harness after the director calls cut. But as it plays out in the above Hollywood films, it's the action guy who saves the day in real life, and not the actor he's doubling up for.

Varun has grown up on film sets in the 1990s, where Citadel: Honey Bunny is set, thanks to his father, veteran filmmaker David Dhawan. While he mostly made comedies, Varun has had the chance to speak to stuntmen over the years, which he's consolidated and incorporated into his performance. “They love what they do. That's the sense I get. They're adrenaline junkies. They love they get paid to do this. They'll do it for free also. They get a very big kick out of this,” Varun says. Playing a stuntman, thus, serves as the ideal kick-off of Varun's action era – getting a big kick out of all the kicks and punches he's going to throw at the bad guys.

Citadel: Honey Bunny will premiere on Prime Video India on November 7.

Read Also: Diljit Dosanjh keeps his promise, gives concert passes to fan who asked him to sing louder. Watch her enjoy his show

HOW DID YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE? CHOOSE YOUR EMOTICON !