Citadel: Honey Bunny

The Indian spin-off of Prime Video’s American show Citadel, titled Honey Bunny, tracks the making of super-agent Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra). Though Priyanka is not in the series, it’s about her parents Honey (Samantha) and Bunny (Varun Dhawan) and they become Citadel agents. The little Nadia (Kashvi) is very much present throughout the series and shows early inclinations of being a tough girl. While Honey is a struggling actor, Bunny is a stuntman who lives a double life of an agent under Baba (Kay Kay Menon). The time period is somewhere around 1992 and the play areas are Mumbai, Belgrade, Nainital and Bucharest. As expected, Baba and his ace killer KD (Saqib Saleem) are after Honey’s life even after eight years in 2000, but as the sentiments would go, Bunny returns to be the wall between death and life.

Citadel: Honey Bunny is the third series in the Citadel universe. Arriving on the heels of the Italian series Citadel: Diana, the Indian version is a prequel story that links into the main Amazon Prime Video series. Developed by Sita Menon and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (Raj & DK), Citadel: Honey Bunny has a sluggish start introducing the characters and the Indian connection. However, over six episodes, the series builds on the characters’ connections for a solid finish.

The show fits right into the style of Raj and DK sans the comedy, the rawness and the drama will keep you hooked for a while. Set in the 90s and early 2000s it focuses on the lack of technology and old-school espionage. Its sequences set in the 90s will remind audiences of old movies like the action remains grounded to today’s time. The makers find a good mix of old aesthetics, cinematography and modern writing for spy thrillers. The show has ups and downs, but performances like that of Kay Kay Menon will bring you back to the story.

Sometimes you get what you want, but it’s not what you need. Since 2018, Raj & DK have been on a creative streak. It began with Stree, a horror-comedy sleeper hit they wrote and produced. The following year, their first series, The Family Man, premiered on Amazon Prime; they show-ran and co-directed it over two seasons (a third is in the works). This was followed by two more shows, Farzi (on Amazon)—my favourite of their long-form work—and Guns & Gulaabs (on Netflix). With each success, the possibility that Hollywood would come calling seemed likelier.

The choices in Citadel: Honey Bunny sing less frequently compared to other undertakings of the Raj & DK filmmaker duo. An offshoot of Amazon Prime’s gazillion-dollar spy franchise pitted against the silliness of James Bond, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, etc., Raj & DK’s latest carries the baggage of an over-embellished universe tensely fitted into a studio-approved runtime. Like its American counterpart helmed by the Russo brothers, even the Indian version spans six episodes with a duration of 40-50 minutes each.

Many years later, Bunny and Honey have a daughter – Nadia – but are no longer together. However, they must look beyond their differences to guard their daughter against rival forces. What connects them to Vishwa, Citadel and an Armada? Performances There’s little to complain about the performances from the star-studded lineup. Samantha, continuing from where she left off in The Family Man, packs a punch with the action sequences and showcases restraint while handling Honey’s conflicting situations and emotions. She has the right style and body language to be an action star and makes the most of the opportunity.

It hits the ground running all right but the mission of sustaining the momentum is an abject failure. Much of what Citadel: Honey Bunny attempts to do proves way too much for a script that, even at its best, can only laboriously inch its way forward - and backwards. Citadel: Honey Bunny is an Indian spinoff of Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel Spyverse that was birthed last year in an espionage thriller series fronted by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden and executive produced by the Russo brothers. While it has its share of action, it runs low on intrigue and suspense.