It was a pleasant surprise to catch a glimpse of Varun Dhawan in Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s Citadel, created by the Russo Brothers. While the US version opened to mixed reviews earlier this year, closer home, there is much anticipation around the Indian version of Citadel that has been helmed by Raj-DK (Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK).

“Ours will be a completely different [story] since it is Raj-DK’s independent vision,” begins Dhawan, as we catch up with him at a Booking.com event that saw him playing cricket with Zaheer Khan.

With the spy thriller, the actor will make his OTT series debut. He couldn’t have asked for a better debut vehicle—the Amazon Prime Video offering not only has international resonance, but also marks his first collaboration with Raj-DK, who have cracked the long-format storytelling with The Family Man, Farzi and Guns & Gulaabs. An admirer of the director-duo’s previous work, Dhawan claims that viewers will see a new facet of their creativity.

“Raj and DK have been a joy to work with. They are legends in the streaming field, and as directors, are wonderful to team up with. The audience will see a new side to them.”

Teaming up with Samantha, whom he describes as a “supportive co-star”, made the experience more fulfilling. “There was a lot of give-and-take between us. We broke the ice at the first meeting, and when you act, you form a new rhythm. I try not to work with people if they are not professional.”

On the films front, Dhawan’s Bawaal received mixed reviews, but he is not perturbed. “Everyone is allowed to have their opinion. Bawaal did phenomenally well on the platform, it was topping the [platform’s viewership] charts every week. That is not something we were [orchestrating], people were watching it. After that, there were discussions—some were in favour of it, some were against it. That is true of every film. But the film got everyone interested. It started a conversation. A lot of people have loved the film, and as actors, we seek validation. I thought I got enough validation.”