The six-episode show mixes action, drama, and romance, telling the story of stuntman Bunny (Varun Dhawan), who recruits an actress (Honey) who is at the bottom of a dead end.
Motorcycle chases, blackmail, skirmishes, and a super-fragmented view of time are the elements that dominate in Citadel: Honey Bunny: the Indian spin-off series born from the Citadel world directed by Raj and DK and starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Produced by D2R Films, Amazon MGM Studios, and AGBO of the Russo Brothers, its debut on Prime Video is set for November 7, 2024. The six-episode show mixes action, drama, and romance, telling the story of stuntman Bunny (Varun Dhawan), who recruits an actress (Honey) who is at the bottom of a dead end. Samantha Ruth Prabhu becomes the “external assistant” for his espionage activities. She is the prototype of the good girl – even sexy – who will use her charm to fool the “bad” men and conclude Bunny’s espionage operations.
Citadel: Honey Bunny – The plot revolves around three characters: a stuntman, a little girl, and an actress who “knows how to act better in reality than on set”
Electronic music and Indian sounds are combined together in most action scenes, those in which the adrenaline could have reached very high levels. The use of blues and reds makes the photography more lively and exciting, while the two protagonists ultimately act very well. A few funny scenes not hurt in the first episodes: Varun Dhawan’s entrance in the scene in which Bunny defines himself as a “Terminator” and Honey’s awkward audition. But overall this new chapter of the Citadel universe does not shine for expressive originality. In the TV series in question, which unfolds over six episodes, stuntman Bunny (played by Varun Dhawan) recruits actress Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) to work with him, and at this point the protagonist duo launches into a world of action, risks and double-crosses. Years later, when their dangerous past comes back to haunt them, they must reunite to protect their young daughter.
Citadel: Honey Bunny breaks the linear level of the story too often. With its constant time jumps it struggles to entertain us
The story often takes us into Honey's past, to let us know the reasons that pushed her to accept the job proposed by Bunny, who is the man who trained her to fight like a war machine. But beyond the superficial entertainment (someone may find the series enjoyable) and the performances of the two protagonists - beautiful and good but not something more - the continuous time jumps, flashbacks, and returns to the present of the Nineties, moreover continuously contextualized, are indisposable during the viewing. The show breaks the linear level of the story too often - with its continuous time jumps it struggles to involve us. Overall Citadel: Honey Bunny is a mix of violent fight scenes and a sentimentality already seen in this kind of serial product.
Citadel: Honey Bunny - evaluation and conclusion
We would have liked to confirm the premises and write about a fast, engaging, irresistible action. We limit ourselves to underlining the ordinariness of the three characters we see most on the small screen. Even though the actors Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu work well together (the investment is made in a leading duo that alone is not enough to raise the quality of the show), unfortunately, the focus is on a story - with a script that from the first episodes breaks away from any creative originality - that too often breaks, unfortunately unpleasantly, the simple and linear level of the story.