Desi Talk

www.desitalkchicago.com – that’s all you need to know 31 ENTERTAINMENT March 17, 2023 T he trailer of the highly anticipated series ‘Citadel’ starring Priyanka Chopra, Richard Madden, Les- ley Manville and Stanley Tucci left fans awestruck with its action and breath-taking visuals. Recent- ly, the Desi Girl opened up about the experience of doing action sequences in the series. The show revolves around two elite agents Mason Kane (Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka) of the global spy agency Citadel. Eight years ago, as they narrowly escaped a life-threatening attack, their memories were wiped. They’ve remained hidden ever since, building new lives under new identities, unaware of their pasts. Until one night, when Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who desperately needs his help to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order. Mason seeks out his former partner, Nadia, and the two spies embark on a mission that takes them around the world in an effort to stop Manticore, all while con- tending with a relationship built on secrets, lies, and a dangerous-yet-undying love. In the trailer, we see Priyanka flaunting several action- based stunts. She is also seen romancing Madden in the series. Performing some action-packed stunts, actress Pri- yanka Chopra Jonas said, “I have a scar on my eyebrow and that’s courtesy Citadel. I don’t even cover it anymore and the stunts were amazing. I think Joe and Anthony brought the most incredible stunt team onto the show with their repertoire. They have worked with the best in the business. We were really lucky to work with people like that. Our stunt team was incredible.” She added, “the story is closely interwoven with the stunts. What’s so exciting about these huge action pieces was that they are infused with drama and storytelling. We get to see a lot about these characters, how they physi- cally interact, not just great action sequences but there’s drama at the heart of each one of them, so there’s a story sort of interwoven in all the stunts. And that was just very cool and new for me.” ‘Citadel’ will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on Friday, April 28, with two adrenaline-fueled episodes, followed by a new episode released weekly every Friday through May 26. From Amazon Studios and the Russo Brothers’ AGBO, Citadel is executive produced by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Mike Larocca, Angela Russo-Otstot, and Scott Nemes for AGBO, with DavidWeil serving as showrunner and executive producer. Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg serve as executive producers for Midnight Radio. Newton Thomas Sigel and Patrick Moran also serve as executive producers. The American series is also getting an Indian adapta- tion. Raj and DK are creating the Indian version of Citadel featuring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in the lead roles. -ANI These Huge Action Pieces Are Infused With Drama: Priyanka Chopra On Doing Action Sequences In ‘Citadel’ Photo:Twitter @priyankachopra Video capture from Citadel preview trailer with Priyanka Chopra. Oscars For India—The Reactions T he Oscars 2023 mean the world to Indian cinema. Here are some reactions to the victory of Naatu naatu from RRR as well as The ElephantWhisperers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Exceptional! The popular- ity of Naatu naatu is global. It will be a song that will be remembered for years to come. Congratulations to @mmkeer- avaani, @boselyricist and the entire team for this prestigious honor. India is elated and proud. #Oscars.” For The ElephantWhisperers win, he posted, “Congratulations to @EarthSpec- trum, @guneetm and the entire team of The ElephantWhisperers for this honor. Their work wonderfully highlights the importance of sustainable develop- ment and living in harmony with nature. #Oscars.” Ajay Devgn tweeted, “As it is often said, cinema speaks a universal language. Congratulations to the teams of #RRR and #TheElephantWhisperers for their #Oscar wins. It’s a proud moment.” To this writer, Ajay personally added in a brief meeting, “Kreem-sir (M.M. Keera- vani’s name in Hindi cinema) is always fabulous. His music in my Zakham (1998) was outstanding! He has recorded a mind-blowing song for me now in Neeraj Pandey’s new film, which is a drama. I love him!” Ajay was also in the cast of RRR but did not have any song. The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri tweeted, “Congratulations @ mmkeeravaani @ssrajamouli. For win- ning Oscars for #NaatuNaatu and making India proud. Wow! Congratulations Di- rector @EarthSpectrum Kartiki Gonsalves @guneetm for winning Best Documen- tary Short for #TheElephantWhisperers. This is the year of Indian cinema.” Alia Bhatt expressed, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh” with many trumpet-blowing emojis. Sharing a picture of Guneet Monga with the trophy, Alia wrote, “Ufff what a visual. Historic! Congratulations Guneet Monga and the whole team @theelephantwhisperers.” Oddly enough, there was nothing on RRR, in which she made a key appear- ance. Filmmaker Karan Johar took to his In- stagram to share his feelings. He showed a collage of RRR and The Elephant Whisperers and wrote, “Paving the way like legends…so proud and ecstatic… big shoutout to both teams.” Specifi- cally on RRR, he wrote, “Historic! OMG! I was jumping on my bed! So so so proud. MM Keeravani sir, SS Rajamouli sir, Jr NTR and Ram Charan standing ovation for all of you.” About Guneet, he wrote, “Guneet! You did it! So so so proud of you. You created history! Broke the glass ceil- ing and more than anything else paved the way…applause, respect and many a salute to you!” Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri tweeted, “Congratulations @mmkeeravaani @ ssrajamouli. For winning Oscars for #NaatuNaatu and making India proud. Wow! Congratulations Director @Earth- Spectrum Kartiki Gonsalves @guneetm for winning Best Documentary Short for #TheElephantWhisperers. This is the year of Indian cinema.” Reacting to RRR’s win, Kangana Ranaut tweeted, “Congratulations to entire India, movie about suppression, torture, killing, colonization of Indians based on racial grounds gets appreciated on a world platform…Thank team RRR.” Samantha Ruth Prabhu tagged RRR team on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “What an incredible moment. Its an Oscar baby!” Praising M.M. Keeravani’s acceptance speech, Boman Irani tweeted, “The best and most innocent acceptance Oscar speech of all time. You stole our hearts #keeravani sir! So proud. #RRR #BESTSONG #Oscar2023 #NaattuNaattu #topoftheworld.” Shreya Ghoshal stated simply on Twitter, “Heartiest congratulations to the genius @mmkeeravaani garu This was long due!!! Extraordinary, glorious win. #NaatuNaatuWinsOscar” Rana Daggubati shared a video clip from the ceremony and wrote, “Yaaaaas- ss. The roar of RRR.” By RajivVijayakar Photo:Twitter @RRRMovie Standing ovation for ‘Naatu Naatu’ performance at the Oscars on March 12, 2023. Photo:Twitter @sikhyaent Still from The Elephant Whisperers which won the Oscar in the Best Documentary category March 12, 2023.