Citadel Honey Bunny review: Varun-Samantha bring their A-game in nuanced series

In Raj & DK’s new show, Citadel: Honey Bunny, there’s drama, emotions, a real-life setting and a lot of action.

The six-episode series has been created to appeal to the taste of Indian viewers, who would never mind watching a family man (pun-intended) and a family woman trying to protect their little daughter. Headlined by Samantha and Varun Dhawan, the Prime Video series is a perfect recipe for a thrilling weekend watch. But, is it thrilling enough to keep you on the edge of your seat?

Citadel: Honey Bunny has its follies. So do its characters. The villains are not really villains, and the heroes are not really heroic. Everything is grey. The one bluffing gets bluffed, and the one winning loses in a snap. But, you get to appreciate Raahi and Honey leaving a lasting impact on your mind. After three episodes, you almost find yourself rooting for them.

The story keeps going back-and-forth from 1992 to 2000. Raahi (Bunny), a stuntman, and Honey, an aspiring actor in the 90s, are just friends, until a local mission makes the two join hands together to be a part of a fishy foundation led by Kay Kay Menon’s Baba. His agenda is to destroy the Citadel and, for Bunny, his word is always to be followed without any question or doubt. Why? Because like in many popular Hindi movies of the 90s, Baba sheltered and nurtured Bunny when he was an orphan at Prem Niwas in Mumbai.

Things change when Bunny and Honey start falling for each other and the twist comes when he gets to know about his daughter years later. The rowdy, misled agent becomes a protective father at that moment, who would go to any length and risk everything and everyone for the sake of his family.

Varun as Bunny gives one of the most mature performances of his career. His sincerity is visible in every frame. This is probably the first time that a director didn’t treat him like a fluff in a movie, as just a macho crowd puller, or tried to force his intensity on-screen. Bunny seemed perfect. Like a man who will never lose his calm in the face of adversity because he knows what’s at stake. Varun’s performance seems controlled. As if he has finally cracked the art of neither exploding on-screen and making it all about himself, nor concealing what he’s really supposed to convey in a scene. In Citadel, he seems to have found that perfect balance as an actor.

Samantha makes for a good pairing opposite Varun. Her vulnerability as a mother never overshadows the warrior in her and vice versa. She and Varun make for a delightful watch together. Their action scenes appear coherent and in synch. There’s nothing loud about their chemistry or their action. Everything about them looks organic. Even their first kiss, which is so brilliantly placed between the scenes, doesn’t seem like a coerced addition.

The makers could have aimed to make Citadel a fancy saga of spies on lavish missions, with stunning foreign locations in the background, aided by the most stylish weapons available to them. But, they make it look believable. At least as believable as it can get. While the first three episodes at around 45 minutes each might appear slow, once you understand where the story is going, you feel invested.

The hero of the series, however, remains the little girl – Kashvi Majmundar as Nadia. She challenges everyone around her to match her standard of performance. It’s amazing to think what kids can do these days. But, in Citadel, when you see a seven-year-old girl escaping through the roof, diving through poles, and making brave choices for her family, you want to treat her as an equal – something that Honey also uses to describe her qualities to her father in a scene.

The world of Citadel is interesting but demands patience from you. It has hidden treats and strong action, but it doesn’t seem like everyone’s cup of tea. There are no swanky cars being burnt, expensive jets flying around or huge buildings being demolished. The story has its heart in the right place, and there’s a cliffhanger, but you will have to give the series a chance.

Also, even with its issues, you’ll probably like it better than the previous Citadel, which starred Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden in the lead.