Varun Dhawan recently opened up about the challenges he faced despite his star-studded background. While many might think that being a “star kid” guarantees a smooth path in the film industry, Varun Dhawan shared a candid moment about missing out on an action role with one of Bollywood’s biggest producers, Aditya Chopra.
During the trailer launch of his upcoming action-packed series ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’, Varun Dhawan revealed an interesting conversation he had with Aditya Chopra during the COVID-19 lockdown.
According to Varun, the two were playing badminton together when he seized the moment to ask Chopra why he wasn’t on consideration for action films. Chopra, who was working on ‘Tiger 3’ at the time with Maneesh Sharma, explained to Varun that he wasn’t yet at the level where he could win trust with the large budgets typically required for action-packed blockbusters.
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Recalling the conversation, Varun said, “I kept pursuing him, asking why he wasn’t making an action film with younger actors. He told me, ‘I can’t give you that budget right now. You’re not at that place.’” Varun shared that he even followed up by texting Chopra about the kind of budget it takes to make a big action film, and the response made him realize the immense scale involved.
Despite Chopra turning him down, Varun expressed gratitude for the opportunity he’s now coming up with ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’.
This upcoming series, produced by Raj & DK and set to stream on Prime Video, marks his debut in the web series space. The actor couldn’t help but mention how Chopra’s insights on budgets helped shape his understanding of action projects. When the ‘Citadel’ offer came his way, one of Varun’s first questions to the production team was about the budget. This was something that had clear influence from his earlier interaction with Chopra.
‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ is highly anticipated, not just because it features Varun in an action-packed role, but also due to the presence of Samantha Ruth Prabhu as his co-star. The series will begin streaming on November 7.