Citadel Honey Bunny review: Varun Dhawan, Samantha try powering this dull series

Citadel: Honey Bunny
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kay Kay Menon, Saqib Saleem, Kashvi Majumdar
Showrunners: Raj and DK
Rating: 2/5

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. 

To begin with, it’s a template show—fast-paced spunky music, handheld camera, Hinglish dialogues and quirky character traits. Something Raj and DK have been doing in The Family Man, Farzi, Guns & Gulaabs and A Gentleman. Just as these projects can be ranked in descending order, Honey Bunny is the latest addition at the trail. Thanks to the star-power of Varun Dhawan and Samantha, it becomes bearable for six long episodes, otherwise it’s a dull, thoughtless parallel universe story that desperately needs tight editing, better scripting and more character depth. 

The action scenes, especially the gun battle scenes on the roads of Belgrade are worth taking notice but it’s no Heat (1995). Thankfully, the main characters speak less and look the role, which adds some authenticity but that’s about it. No major work has been done on creating the intensity required for such plotlines. The Russo Brothers failed miserably in the original Citadel too, but it was way crisper than the Indian version. 

There are no serious attempts to explore the identity and space that form the major characters, and the makers basically stick to giving adrenaline-rush every 15 minutes. Sloppy writing doesn’t let that happen either. 

What Raj and DK created with The Family Man is the solid base for spy thrillers set in India. They understood the quirks and wants. Honey Bunny feels very westernised as if the American faces are replaced by Indian actors following the same methods and drills. 

Kay Kay and Saqib add some value but they fail much short of creating some rizz for the audiences. With such basic writing, the actors must have felt constrained. 

Citadel Honey Bunny is a tedious watch with occasional sparks, though Varun and Samatha seem good casting choices. Had they behaved like stars in the show, it could have been more tolerable.

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