The bar is very low, but Citadel: Honey Bunny is the best Citadel show of this spy universe so far. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Raj & DK's recent works like The Family Man, Farzi, and Guns and Gulaabs. What Honey Bunny especially proves about this filmmaking duo is that they are capable of making clichés their own. Both Citadel and Citadel: Diana were products of an unimaginative mind that could merely tread on a predetermined path. Priyanka Chopra Jonas in Citadel and Matilda De Angelis in Citadel: Diana carried the burden of infusing life into a hackneyed material. Thankfully, Samantha Ruth Prabhu is not overwhelmed with such a heavy task. She is in the company of a talented crew and cast who are so committed to this series that they manage to inject vigor into a fairly unoriginal story. Not everything works. Sikandar Kher's character and his boss are stuck with generic moments, and due to low lights and cold, muted colors, the images can sometimes look incredibly dull. And yet, these flaws mostly come across as minor hiccups because Raj & DK know what stories like these generally lack. The answer is excitement and entertainment.
Honey Bunny is made by someone who knows that not every character can be provided with the luxury of a backstory, so you need actors capable of conveying certain ready-made traits effectively to the audience. Take Saqib Saleem's KD, for instance. There is hunger in his eyes that tells you that he is someone who really wants to prove himself. To whom, you ask? His Baba (Kay Kay Menon). He becomes overly enthusiastic in front of Baba, like a child eager to please his father. When Baba first introduces KD to his team members, he, within a few minutes, starts asking questions and tries taking the initiative of tracking someone. He is too eager to impress his father figure. You can't blame him for behaving in this manner because Baba is an expert at manipulating "his children." Menon is Honey Bunny's deliciously rotten soul. His Baba exudes sincerity and mischief when he talks to Bunny (Varun Dhawan) - and later, KD - about him being an important part of his family. Carefully look at Menon's performance during these moments. He speaks like someone who is aware of the effect his words are having on the listener. Any other actor or filmmaker would have probably tried to give Baba a dark, menacing aura. Raj & DK see this threat as a dark joke, and Menon provides comic shades to his character. The result is appealing as hell.
Raj & DK even bring the comedian inside Samantha to the forefront. When her Honey flirts with a man at a hotel and talks about her "affair" with her "boyfriend's" friend and cousin, she becomes a sensual, funny woman. I chuckled when I heard her fake screams during an audition. Honey is an aspiring movie actor, and Bunny is a stuntman. What are spies, if not actors and stuntmen? Raj & DK make explicit what's implicit in most spy films, though they do so without coming across as bums. By showing Honey as an actor and Bunny as a stuntman, Raj & DK provide credibility to the spy skills of these characters. It's similar to what Nikhil Nagesh Bhat did in Kill by presenting Amrit as an army officer. What's more, the Baba-Bunny or the Baba-KD bond can be interpreted as a relationship between a spy and his organization. The agent simply follows whatever orders are given to him from the top. Generally, in stories like these, the agents eventually discover something shady about their organization or boss and decide to leave their jobs. When something like this occurs in Honey Bunny, you see it as some sort of coming-of-age moment where the child gains a deeper understanding of the world and chooses to fly away from the shadow of his father. The same thing through the eyes of another character looks like an act of rebellion - a child's tantrum.
You see how much care Raj & DK have given to this show when you understand why they cast Samantha in a leading role. It's not just the fact that she and the directors have worked together in The Family Man before and thus must have grown comfortable with each other. Look at the scene where we first notice Bunny washing his face, and then we cut to Honey doing the same in front of a mirror. For a few seconds, she looks exactly like Priyanka Chopra. Citadel: Honey Bunny serves as a prequel to Citadel - a show that focuses on Chopra Jonas' Nadia. Here, Nadia is Honey's young daughter, played by a wonderful Kashvi Majmundar, who is so good that she often steals the spotlight from adult actors around her. One suspects that Chopra Jonas would get all jealous of this young Nadia because this character has a more commanding presence in this show. She wasn't very memorable in Citadel. In fact, you have trouble digesting the fact that the Nadia in Honey Bunny will grow up and become the Nadia you saw in Citadel. The adult Nadia is nothing compared to the young girl you meet here. As Bunny, Dhawan is watchable. He, though, messes up in Episode 5 during a crucial emotional moment, which leads to unintentional humor.
The seemingly one-take action sequences are slick but not very inventive. There is also a MacGuffin, which the show openly accepts as inconsequential. Raj & DK use the whatchamacallit to put energy into the drama. This is why a story that could have easily seemed disposable feels so meaty, so urgent. Raj & DK are aware of the limitations that come with a story that needs to check certain boxes. This doesn't stop them from putting their distinctive stamp on this franchise, which clearly requires more filmmakers like them. Raj & DK might not be reinventing the wheel with Honey Bunny, but they surely know how to spin it and have fun.
Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times