Raj and DK are back with another reaction-packed thriller series after The Family Man. Citadel: Honey Bunny, starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan, is part of Citadel’s spyware universe. Directed by Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK and Sita Menon and produced by Russo Bros., the series was released on Amazon Prime Video on November 7, 2024. The series consists of six episodes titled Dancing and Fighting, Talwar, Spy Game, Home, Traitor and Play. The running time of each episode is 45-55 minutes. Starring Kay Kay Menon, Saqib Saleem, Sikandar Kher and Soham Majumdar, the series is a dramatic entry into a universe of action, betrayal and espionage.
The series serves as a prequel to the American television series “Citadel” (also on Amazon Prime Video). Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) and Bunny (Varun Dhawan) are the spy parents of Nadia Sinh (played by Priyanka Chopra in Citadel). The series is packed with every facet of the spyware universe – sharp and skilled spies, technology that can destroy the world, members of the species at stake, and a world full of chaos.
Honey Bunny plot
Honey Bunny encompasses two parallel storylines set in the past and present in 1992 and 2002. The narrative unfolds as the series begins in 1990s Bombay. Rahi “Bunny” Gambhir (Varun Dhawan) is a stuntman in films who offers Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) a “side job” that puts her life at risk. Honey is a struggling actress and young dancer in the Hindi film industry who is fighting for supporting roles on screen. Honey is a love child of a royal family of Andhra Pradesh and, like Bunny, has a life full of hardships. When she meets Rahi, or Bunny, she falls in love with his charismatic nature, despite having been mistreated by men her whole life. Rahi uses Honey as a lure in the operation.
Source: Prime Video
However, she is told to flee when her identity is discovered. The story of Bunny and Honey’s reunion runs parallel to the 1990s plot. Bunny and his ally Chacko (Shivankit Singh Parihar) look out for Honey and her daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar).
Character development in Citadel
The character development of Rahi shows a typical protagonist who struggles with a tough childhood and is saved by a father-like figure from a spy agency called The Foundation named Guru (Kay Kay Menon). Rahi or Bunny often faced the dilemmas of his cruel job and, in typical fashion, his meeting with Bunny brings big changes in his life. Honey causes turmoil within the espionage organization The Foundation as the agency works against their enemy’s Project Talwar.
Source: IMDb
The spy duo is in Belgrade on the agency’s most coveted mission to retrieve Dr. To track down Raghu Rao when things go wrong. At the center of this chaos is a surveillance and technology device called Armada. It is a device that can track people and is in high demand in the world of spyware, arms trafficking and surveillance.
Honey’s character is portrayed in an interpersonal conflict between her professional role as a spy and her feelings for Rahi. As the plot reaches its climax, a drastic betrayal by the spy foundation and the Guru (Kay Kay Menon) comes to light. The agency’s hidden motives leave open the question of who was a traitor. The series ends with the duo Honey and Bunny fighting for the clichés of love, family and their daughter’s future. The ending of the series leaves the audience in a cliffhanger.
Existential angst from Honey-Bunny
Unlike the American Citadel universe (starring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden), Raj and DK created a spy duo that captivated audiences. The most notable motif is the element of the Honey-Nadia relationship, which becomes even more important than the Honey-Bunny relationship as the story progresses. Honey appears as a protective mother who puts the welfare of society above her mission. Her character’s portrayal reflects the change in the stereotypical portrayal of women in OTT spaces. The setting of 90s Bombay reflects the nostalgia of films set in gangland Bombay. However, a break can be seen in the series, as the technical devices used and the arms are visibly modern in contrast to those of the 90s.
Source: Amazon Prime
Samantha’s Honey is praised for her charming action sequences, which almost seem like a continuum from her screen time in The Family Man: Season 2. The spy’s responsiveness to any danger that might attack her daughter shows a strong, mixed character in Raj and DK’s latest venture. It sets the stage for the other characters including Rahi “Bunny” be it an action sequence or another scene.
Anas Arif writes in The Indian Express that the duo is known for its powerful “cross-genre approach.” As depicted in her early works such as The Family Man – Seasons 1 and 2, Guns and Gulaabs, her body encompasses a balance of seriousness and comedy. Arif writes: “Her approach is both a critique and a mockery of genre tropes, resulting in a rollicking rebellion that is as self-aware as it is exhilarating.” A critical genre contradiction is at the heart of her corpus. This is also evident in the classic characterization of Shrikant (played by Manoj Vajpayee), who is both an RK Laxman-like caricature of a middle-class Indian and a spy in the Anti-Terrorism Squad. Arif writes that such an approach to genre mixing allows the spy’s narrative to be presented as political rather than hyper-nationalistic.
However, the series seems unimpressive when we analyze the distinctive humor of the series, which almost seems forced in the writing. The plot twists are often predictable and Raj and DK’s humor is not as impressive as in their previous works.
Packed with the dilemmas of Honey-Bunny’s existential fears and the choices between her education and her ethics, the series actually creates an aura of tension in the audience. The trope of saving humanity from a dangerous technology may be cliche, but it might be worth a binge watch!
