Citadel: Honey Bunny
Rating: *** (3/5)
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kay Kay Menon, Kashvi Majumundar, Shivankit Parihar & more
Directed by: Raj & DK
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Guns, bullets, blazing action centred around two actors, who are still coming into their own, atleast in the web space, one would presume! On the one hand, there is Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu), a struggling actress who endures everything a conventionally good-looking woman has to endure in a man’s world; and on the other hand is Rahi aka Bunny (Varun Dhawan), a stuntman who doubles up as a secret agent for an unnamed agency (not Citadel). The two are friends and it doesn’t take long for Honey to be lured into this action-packed, life-risking activities only to know that it’s not how it looks like. A lot other things are thrown in that sound cumbersome like Project Talwar, Armada and all – but they don’t add much in terms of being a cohesive screenplay
Essentially, the six-episode series juggles between two timelines 1992 and 2000 and while the aforementioned information is mostly about the 92 timeline, the 2000 period is about Nadia: Honey and Bunny’s daughter and the ghost of their past coming back to haunt them.
Showrunners and filmmakers, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK are the OTT flag-bearers in ways they wouldn’t have even anticipated to be. Marrying commercial understanding with sleek and effective technical prowess alongwith impactful storytelling – it’s a three-way marriage that is legal and fantastical. With Citadel: Honey Bunny, Raj & DK are tasked with creating a compelling saga that not only threads itself to the other versions (Citadel and Citadel: Diana) but also end on a cliffhanger for Season 2.
The show does take itself seriously from the get-go and perhaps that’s where it falters when you see Dhawan enunciating too much to perhaps make a statement while emoting or Samantha being visibly uncomfortable with naturally emoting and mouthing dialogues in Hindi – even in the flickers when she talks in Telugu, you see how at ease she is. That’s where the casting of Samantha Ruth Prabhu, seems like a misfit – despite giving her a backstory that justifies her accent while talking in Hindi or being uncomfortable otherwise, it bothers the overall arc to her character, especially given that she needs to have an emotional core with Nadia, her daughter. This isn’t to fault Samantha in any way because you see how immaculate she is with action scenes and despite the discomfort, putting in her best effort.
Dhawan, who has proved that he can underplay with films like Badlapur and October, once again shows momentary glimpses of his acting chops but a lot of it is undermined due to going a tad too hard in the confrontational scenes – I mean saying ‘f**k’ all the time when you’re angry isn’t the only you express anger. He too though, showcases immense finesse with action.
The show, however, belongs to child actor Kashvi Majumundar aka Nadia, and the lighter moments between Chacko (Shivankit Parihar) and Ludo (Soham Majumdar): the tenderness that this show needed. Priyanka Chopra Jonas would be proud that her younger version of Nadia is played by this talented child actor, who is phenomenal.
The premise of Citadel: Honey Bunny is conveniently predictable and never manages to keep you guessing despite the trope-filled couple of twists and turns. On paper, Kay Kay Menon is given a spectacular character to work around with but it never really translates to on-screen and that’s a perplexing territory to be in.
When you make an action extravaganza, logic and reasoning usually takes a backseat but to their credit, Raj & DK take extreme care of being believable and at the same time, make it look impossible. The director-duo is synonymous with long one-take action sequences but here in Citadel: Honey Bunny, it works better only on one occasion – the climatic battle (of sorts). There is also a seemingly intentional but rather questionable choice of shooting with blues and a few darker lighting throughout the show’s runtime which affects the technical efficiency that is at display.
I have said it repeatedly, even an underwhelming Raj & DK project is usually better than 90 percent of shows and films on OTT out there. With Citadel: Honey Bunny, it isn’t that it is underwhelming entirely (mostly how Guns & Gulaabs was) but it isn’t able to fulfil its true potential and leaves a little too-many loose ends than you would have liked. But it still showcases what these masterful directors are capable of, and after barely showcasing their action prowess in earlier shows, they get to go bananas here and boy they prove what they are worth.