Varun Dhawan reveals Aditya Chopra refused to offer him action film, said can’t give ‘such big budget’: ‘Citadel gave me that platform’

Varun Dhawan wanted to star in an action film since the pandemic, but there was one major hurdle: Who’ll put the money to mount a mega actioner with him? The actor said it was producer Aditya Chopra who made him understand the economics of a big-budget action film and felt Varun wasn’t ready yet to headline a massive film of the genre. Varun made the revelation during the trailer launch of Citadel: Honey Bunny, which sees him playing a spy in the 90s. The actor said he met Aditya during the lockdown, when he was playing badminton with director Manish Sharma, who was then mounting Salman Khan-starrer Tiger 3.

“So I asked Aditya Chopra why can’t he make an action film with a younger talent and if he can cast me in a film. But he said he only wanted to give me acting roles, not action. But I kept pursuing him, and then he told me, ‘Look I can’t do that because I can’t give you that budget right now. You’re not at that place where I can give you such a big budget.’ I kept thinking about it and then later asked him what is the budget. He then gave me a figure that you need to make something big in action.”

WATCH | Citadel Honey Bunny trailer: Samantha and Varun Dhawan go from lovers to foes in Raj and DK’s retro action thriller

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Varun Dhawan said when Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel: Honey Bunny came his way, he couldn’t resist but ask its makers Raj and DK, as well as the streamer, the budget of the mega series.

“When this came, I asked Raj and DK, as well as Amazon what is the budget. Because my knowledge came from Aditya Chopra about how much one needs to make something look good in action. I’m grateful to them for giving us this platform because that’s needed to make action look big and the actors larger than life,” he added.

The first season of Citadel starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden. In Citadel: Honey Bunny, the series traces the journey of Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who are parents of Priyanka in the Russo Brothers’ spy universe.

Citadel: Honey Bunny will premiere on November 7.