Varun Dhawan Recalls Punching Samantha On First Day Of Citadel Honey Bunny Shoot: ‘Violent Love Story’ – News18

The teaser of Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s highly anticipated action-packed series, Citadel: Honey Bunny was finally unveiled at a special event today in Mumbai. At this release event, Varun recalled that he was required to punch Samatha on the first day of their shoot.

Varun said that after he was told by the director duo Raj and DK to punch Samantha, “Samantha’s like, ‘Hit me, hit me.’ So there’s a lot of hitting also going on for various reasons. It’s a violent love story.” Citadel not only marks Varun Dhawan’s web-series’ debut but also his first collaboration with Samantha.

Varun praised Samantha’s determination in the face of illness and said that his preparation for the action-packed series was easier than what the actress had to endure. Varun Dhawan expressed, “Honestly, my preparation was very easy compared to Samantha’s. It’s public knowledge what she was battling when she joined the show. I thought my rehearsals were tough, but then I saw her incredible work ethic despite her struggles, and it truly inspired me. We became partners in making things happen.”

He added, “I’ve never been on a shoot or a creative process like that before, where I witnessed a co-actor going through such challenges. You learn a lot about human resilience and strength when you see someone battling something and still succeeding. Samantha inspired not just me, but also Raj, DK, Sita, and everyone at Amazon. Her dedication to this action show is truly inspirational.”

For the unversed, Samantha Ruth Prabhu revealed in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis. The actress then took a break from films so that she could focus on her health. Talking about working with Varun for the first time, Samantha said, “It was a partnership, like when we’d do action, it really felt like a dance. It felt like, you know, we discussed this, action felt like romantic song because there was just so much sync… It’s the both of us with a cameraman and everyone has to be in absolute sync. So I’ve never felt that kind of chemistry with anyone and I believe it shows because that action sequence is truly special, if I should say so myself, but just making it was absolutely beautiful.”

Honey Bunny is the Indian series within the Citadel universe, originally headlined by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden. The show was announced at Prime Video’s special event earlier this year. Besides Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan, the series also features Kay Kay Menon, Simran, Soham Majumdar, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Kashvi Majumdar, Saquib Saleem, and Sikandar Kher in pivotal roles. The series will be released on Amazon Prime Video on November 7 this year.