"It`s through kundalini yoga,&rdquo; says filmmaker <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/hollywood-news/article/avengers-endgame-masterminds-anthony-and-joe-russo-likely-to-return-to-helm-two-more-films-of-the-franchise-23365334" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Anthony Russo</a>, for his deeply personal affinity to all things India. Which is somewhat ironic.
Anthony is one half of Russo Bros&mdash;the world&rsquo;s most commercially successful filmmakers&mdash;best known for directing <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/hollywood-news/article/avengers-infinity-war-movie-review-an-awesome-but-largely-frantic-power-struggle-19361155" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Avengers: Infinity War</a> (2018) and Endgame (2019), from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).&nbsp;
<img title="Anthony and Joe Russo" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/oct/Anthony-and-Joe-Russo-afp_e.jpg" alt="Anthony and Joe Russo" width="1280" height="720" />Anthony and Joe Russo
While both their global, blast-fest, super-blockbusters were loaded with an obvious sub-text, neither can be accused of possessing any yogic/meditative quality to them!&nbsp;
Be that as it may, delving into the Russo Bros&rsquo; fascination with India appears obvious.&nbsp;
<img title="Avengers Endgame" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/oct/Anthony-and-Joe-Russo-afp-a_e.jpg" alt="Avengers Endgame" width="1280" height="720" />Avengers Endgame
Consider some of their recent work as producers: Extraction (2020), shot in Ahmedabad, that pitted America&rsquo;s top pin-up, Chris Hemsworth, against Hindi cinema&rsquo;s lead, Randeep Hooda.&nbsp;
Amazon Prime Video&rsquo;s spy-universe series, Citadel, that has Bollywood-Hollywood crossover star, Priyanka Chopra, playing the protagonist.&nbsp;
<img title="Citadel Honey Bunny" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/oct/Anthony-and-Joe-Russo-afp-b_e.jpg" alt="Citadel Honey Bunny" width="1280" height="720" />Citadel Honey Bunny
Indeed, Citadel&rsquo;s independent offshoot, Honey Bunny, that&rsquo;s wholly an Indian/Hindi show, headlined by Bollywood hero, Varun Dhawan.&nbsp;
And the reason mid-day met Anthony, exclusively in London, before the series drops on Prime Video, November 7.&nbsp;
<img title="Anthony Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, David Weil" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/oct/Anthony-and-Joe-Russo-afp-c_e.jpg" alt="Anthony Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, David Weil" width="1280" height="720" />Anthony Russo, Angela Russo-Otstot, David Weil
Arguably, no other A-lister from American entertainment has looked towards India in such mainstream ways. This gaze can&rsquo;t be accidental, right?&nbsp;
Well, it&rsquo;s not. Anthony says, &ldquo;The tipping point was the success of the Marvel films that we did.&rdquo; Besides Avengers, they&rsquo;ve directed two Captain America titles (The Winter Soldier, Civil War).
<img title="Scan to watch the full interview" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/oct/Anthony-and-Joe-Russo-afp-d_e.jpg" alt="Scan to watch the full interview" width="1280" height="720" />Scan to watch the full interview
The Avengers movies, in particular, had suitably shaken up the Indian box-office, to a serious invasion from Hollywood.&nbsp;
Anthony recalls he closely watched desi audiences&rsquo; reactions to those films, through several videos, sent over to him: &ldquo;It was overwhelming to observe that passion and excitement in the [Indian] movie theatres: to understand how those movies were moving and impacting people.&rdquo;&nbsp;
India, hence, became their next stop.
To be fair to the brothers, while this Indo-Russo friendship treaty endures, they&rsquo;ve actively pursued a &lsquo;look east&rsquo; policy ever since acquiring Thanos-like powers in the global mainstream.&nbsp;
For instance, financing an LA-Beijing joint company, to produce a Chinese super-hero film (The Hero&rsquo;s Awakening). Let alone the absurdist, sleeper super-hit, Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), about Chinese-American immigrants, that they were the less-advertised partnering producers of.&nbsp;
This global outreach dates back to the Russos&rsquo; origin story. Much before they became the only directors (after James Cameron) to post two $2 billion films at the global box-office (with the two Avengers, of course).&nbsp;
They began as indie directors, from Cleveland, Ohio, breaking out with the boutique Slamdance Film Festival, where Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney spotted them and backed Welcome to Collingwood (2002).&nbsp;
Anthony says, &ldquo;We grew up as big fans of global cinema, with a heightened sense of the wonderful places that truly embraced cinema, through people dealing in the craft. India, of course, was one of them.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Also, Citadel, as a global spy series, with region-specific spin-offs, lends itself naturally to &ldquo;collaborations with creators&rdquo; from across the world. The Italian Citadel, Diana, dropped on Prime Video in October.
As we speak, Anthony&rsquo;s brother Joe/Joseph is filming the second season of Citadel, at a classified location, off London, with the leads, Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden. mid-day had access to the studio, during shoot. Only to marvel at the scale and precision of the action enterprise.&nbsp;
Even if bulimic/low-key, is there an equivalent to the Russo Bros in Bollywood? Let&rsquo;s go with directors Abbas-Mustan! What Abbas-Mustan have in common with the Russos is a sibling, in the shadow, that we barely get to hear of.&nbsp;
As in, film editor Hussain, who&rsquo;s third of the Burmawalla Bros. Likewise, sister Angela Russo-Otstot, who&rsquo;s verymuch been part of the Russo Bros story&mdash;as executive producer of several of their works, including the Citadel global franchise.&nbsp;
Is it a further coincidence that of all the gin joints in Bombay, the directors that Angela picked to create the Hindi/Indian arm of Citadel, Honey Bunny, were also a filmmaker duo, Raj &amp; DK?
Having knocked back their filmography, Angela says, &ldquo;Raj &amp; DK have a lot of shared sensibilities with Anthony and Joe.&rdquo;&nbsp;
That said, what Raj &amp; DK have achieved with Honey Bunny is a wholly different take on the Citadel cinematic universe. More rooted and intimate, less techy&mdash;pretty much a period piece, with Varun Dhawan playing a Bollywood stunt-man, in a prequel to the original spy series.&nbsp;
Which was also the point. As Angela points out, &ldquo;The goal was to allow filmmakers to remain authentic to their own sensibilities. We wanted them to continue their artistic journey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;For a brief, what [Citadel creator] David [Weil] and I talked about was primarily the theme. That largely revolved around family, identity, and the struggle/balance between lies and truth, which is unique to the spy archetype.&rdquo;
That archetype, in this case, is centred on a Good Samaritan network of ex-spies, i.e. Citadel, saving the world, from the antagonists, Manticore, another espionage ring, funded/run by the world&rsquo;s vilest, who&rsquo;re essentially the wealthiest.
There&rsquo;s, of course, a lot of myth-taking&mdash;only framed in reality of sorts.&nbsp;
Unlike the Russo Bros&rsquo; MCU, that&rsquo;s pure mythology. Which works, because mainstream audiences believe in it, like blind faith, even religion.&nbsp;
Only fair to check with the Russo siblings then, if they believe? In their own global conspiracy theories, surrounding Citadel/Manticore, that is!
Angela says, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good question,&rdquo; to let her brother Anthony take it.&nbsp;
He reasons, &ldquo;Part of the reason we like working in the spy, fantasy, or &lsquo;genre&rsquo; space, is because it&rsquo;s slightly different from real life. It&rsquo;s a construct that we can have fun with.&nbsp;
This allows audiences to engage&mdash;with complicated ideas, experiences, and global/political situations, without getting triggered [by it]. It&rsquo;s a step removed [from reality]; [feels] a little safer. That&rsquo;s part of the virtue of Citadel.&rdquo;
Okay, but do you believe in Citadel/Manticore?&nbsp;
Citadel creator David Weil adds, &ldquo;We believe that it&rsquo;s possible. To [Anthony&rsquo;s] point that there is fantasy, even sci-fi elements&mdash;that&rsquo;s for the fact that we are five minutes into future. And this could potentially happen. So, we love to explore what could actually be. But may not be [the case] today.&rdquo;
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