Citadel: Honey Bunny Review: Varun Dhawan, Samantha kick some serious butt in Raj & DK's engrossing spy thriller

Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu

In a scene from the second episode of Prime Video's Citadel: Honey Bunny, the camera zooms into a blood-stained cassata ice cream. At another point, we see a crumpled pamphlet, the text on which reads “Nadia: The Diamond Queen”. Say what you want about Raj & DK, the filmmaker duo has a knack of crafting convincing back stories for their characters.

Varun Dhawan plays Rahi/Bunny, a stuntman-cum-secret agent who performs death-defying stunts during the day and works as a secret agent at night. His boss is Baba, played by a convincing Kay Kay Menon. Baba runs a spy agency whose sole purpose is to stop Project Talwar from succeeding.

Citadel: Honey Bunny: Plot

Under the leadership of Zooni (Simran Bagga) and her husband Rinzy, assisted by Shaan (Sikander Kher), Project Talwar is working on a sophisticated tracking system which can get the coordinates of any human on earth. Honey (played to perfection by Samantha) is an aspiring actress who gets embroiled in this secret agent group. Initially, she is first used as a honeytrap but is later trained by Bunny to fight/shoot targets.

The timeline of the show alternates between 1992 and 2000. Shot in Mumbai, Nainital, Bucharest and Belgrade, Citadel: Honey Bunny goes back and forth in time. The viewers connect the dots as they figure out what transpired between Baba-Bunny-Honey. Why did Honey ‘betray’ Baba? Are Baba and Rinzy (Zooni's husband) siblings?

Citadel: Honey Bunny: Performances

What works well for Citadel: Honey Bunny is just how well-written and endearing its characters are. You can't help but root Rahi (Dhawan) and Chako (played by the versatile Shivankit Singh Parihar) as their bromance brews. The two go from fighting over who gets to play ‘Terminator’/’Predator’ in 1992 to being fathers with responsibilities in 2000. Ludo (Soham Majumdar) is in house tech expert who develops sophisticated tech to thwart Project Talwar's attempt to succeed.

Samantha is arguably the strongest performer in the cast. The actress plays mother to Nadia (Kashvi Majumdar, named after the actress Honey aspired to emulate). The mother-daughter duo fight tooth-and-nail to save themselves from Project Talwar's men as they follow the two through the streets of Nainital. Both Samantha and Kashvi make Honey/Nadia worth rooting for.

Citadel: Honey Bunny: Writing And Direction

The show also has many ‘90s references. The action is simply stellar. The camera work is shaky. It creeps up on principal characters as they navigate an abandoned building l. Jump scare-like tactics are used to build intrigue. The show is also very realistic. At one point, Honey, being tired of driving the entire night, decides to rest a little and falls asleep in her car.

We also see Chako and Rahi buy antibiotics and painkillers to nurse their wounds after a showdown at Base 33. Rarely do we see such realistic depiction of spies in action movies, who mostly fight like they are superhuman, rarely nursing their wounds or feeling fatigued after hand-to-hand combat.

Also read: Samantha, Varun Dhawan, Shahid Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor attend the premiere of Citadel: Honey Bunny, see picsCitadel: Honey Bunny: What Works, What Doesn't

Writers Sira R. Menon and Raj & DK craft a masterful spin-off to Prime Video's most-expensive show ‘Citadel’ which starred Priyanka Chopra and opened to mostly lukewarm reception. Contrary to the OG Citadel, Honey Bunny is immensely bingeable and entirely engrossing, and keeps you engaged through its six-episode run.

That the characters are endearing and Raj & DK make you feel for them is an added plus. Raj & DK, the brains behind Farzi, The Family Man and Guns & Gulaabs have done it yet again. Watch Citadel: Honey Bunny for some mind-blowing action and an enthralling plot that keeps you guessing what's next.

Star rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

Citadel: Honey Bunny is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.