Double engine
As ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ becomes the most watched series of Prime Video worldwide during its launch weekend, one is tempted to argue that nothing succeeds like success. Only its hugely creative creators, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, do not ever care to repeat their success formula or themselves. To be different each time is their USP and mojo. Raj recalls that soon after ‘The Family Man’, they were told — “Chill man! Now you can relax for five years and just ride on the success of this series.” Not heeding the advice, they went ahead and made ‘Farzi’ and ‘Guns & Gulaabs’ and now, ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’.
Some critics may have been a tad less effusive to their latest offering, even comparing their spin-off of ‘Citadel…’ to their previous shows and asking to ‘rate Raj and DK’s best shows’. The duo, however, does not understand the logic. “Why compare?” they ask, but also agree, “We have to bear the burden of ‘The Family Man’, our golden yardstick. But we don’t want to go on making similar stuff as ‘The Family Man’.” Moreover, they feel that “though there are not many action series, at the very outset, an action film/series is rated two stars. You are not any given marks for action, for choreography or character development. And you can never please everyone with an action film/series”.
However, strictly from the point of view of the craft, DK feels ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’ is their most accomplished work. To the naysayers who claimed the supporting cast got a short shrift, their repartee is, “We go for subtle portrayals and don’t hammer in things or exaggerate emotions with loud music.” So, if you pay close attention, they point out, there is a history between Zoonie (Simran) and Ishaan (Sikander Kher), who are not just shown as boss and an employee. In fact, they share that these two were writer Sita R Menon’s favourite characters and she built in many little nuances in these two. “All characters in our projects are thought through; they are not there for the heck of it,” says Raj. But yes, they do admit that this is the first time they didn’t have an ‘original’ story and had to create one which fit the mother-ship of Russo Brothers’ ‘Citadel’.
On their collaboration with Anthony and Joseph Russo of ‘Avengers’ fame, the duo only has words of appreciation. “Interference is not even a word with them,” says Raj and adds, “When we suggested a prequel instead of taking the story sequentially forward or creating a parallel Indian spyverse, they were game for it.”
The idea of a prequel excites them, provided “there is not much backstory, and if you show the current story as a present snapshot”. Interestingly, the original creators of ‘Stree’ had conceived a three-part story for the now super-hit franchise, including a prequel, a reckoner of sorts on how it all happened. Not being associated with ‘Stree’ anymore is not irksome though. As they say, “It’s like our child who has grown up and flown away. Let it have its own life.”
As for their own graph, from a time when they didn’t have access to superstars to now when they are dying to work with the star pair, their plate is more than full. Apart from the third season of ‘The Family Man’, second outing of ‘Farzi’ and ‘Citadel’, there is ‘Rakt Bramhand — The Bloody Kingdom’, with which they travel back to the 8th or 10th century. “None of it,” however, they reveal, “is factual or has a mythological reference.”
In ‘Citadel’ or ‘Guns & Gulaabs’, they may have created a period look with painstaking detail, but a fact-based story does not excite them as yet. Says Raj, “A factual series/film is tricky. You need a different kind of originality, for the story is fixed. We don’t like to tamper with facts and would not want to fictionalise the hell out of it. We have yet to understand the film ethics of it, how to take half a story and make it palatable. If we find one that is unbelievably true, we might foray in that direction.”
But guess what, the Telugu makers, known for their wondrous North-South alchemy, have already zeroed in on a story in the Punjabi heartland, what they call ‘an outsider’s view’. As they don’t know this world very well and because authenticity is their second nature, they are looking for collaborators/writers to flesh it out. If that is getting our Punjabi brethren excited, please be warned — they only work with writers like Sita Menon, Suman Kumar, Suparn Varma, who are on the same frequency as theirs. Matching with the bandwidth of these engineer-turned filmmakers, blessed with multi-chips working in multiple directions, can’t be an easy task. Soon, the kings of the long format will return to making a feature film, “It’s high time. We really have a cool idea for it.” Anything less than happening is neither their wont, nor our expectation of them.
