Bollywood star Varun Dhawan is set to headline Prime Video's Indian original series within the Citadel franchise, the streaming platform announced Tuesday. Billed as a "local Original spy series", the currently untitled project hails from Prime Video and AGBO, the production banner co-founded by Hollywood filmmaking duo Russo Brothers. Raj and DK, who previously collaborated with Prime Video on the successful The Family Man series, will serve as showrunners and directors on the upcoming show.
Gaurav Gandhi, vice president, Prime Video India, said the team is excited to begin production on the Indian chapter of the Citadel universe.
"With this project, we are building on our mission of borderless entertainment to produce local Original content that can be enjoyed by audiences across the world. Citadel is a truly global franchise, with local productions, across countries, that build back to an inter-connected storyline-a first-of-its-kind innovation in storytelling," said Gandhi in a statement.
"We are delighted to have Varun Dhawan play the lead in this super exciting Indian installment of the franchise. With Raj and DK at the helm of creating this action-packed spy series, and Varun playing the lead, we believe the Citadel India chapter will not just raise the bar in terms of Original productions in India, it will also bring global attention to India's incredible pool of creators and talent. We can't wait to share it with our audience in India and around the world," he added.
According to a press release issued by the streamer, filming on the series will begin in January.
Written by Sita R Menon along with Raj and DK, the Indian Original Citadel series marks the streaming debut of Dhawan.
Anthony and Joe Russo, who are attached as executive producers on the project, said they are thrilled to see yet another production within the Citadel universe commencing, this time in India.
"We, and all of AGBO, consider it an honour to be collaborating with filmmakers as inspiring as DK and Raj, who bring a unique vision, style, and tone to our collection of global series. And, we can't wait to see how this remarkable cast brings their and Sita's imaginative characters to life," they said in a joint statement.
Dhawan, who was most recently seen in the hit creature comedy Bhediya, is looking forward to beginning his journey in the streaming space with Prime Video.