Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Samantha
Web Series Review: Citadel: Honey Bunny
Director: Raj-DK
Synopsis:
CITADEL: HONEY BUNNY is the story of two spies. The year is 1992. Rahi aka Bunny (Varun Dhawan) works as a stuntman in the Hindi film industry in Bombay (present day Mumbai). His close friend is Hanimandakini aka Honey (Samantha), an aspiring actress. Honey tries her best but fails to get a break. She hasn’t paid her house rent in months. Bunny comes to her rescue – he reveals to her that he works for a secret agency and asks for her help for a mission. Honey accepts. Bunny introduces Honey to his teammates – Ludo (Soham Majumdar), Chako (Shivankit Singh Parihar) and Jagan (Mohit R Thakur). Her mission is to extract a disk that contains sensitive information. Honey falters but manages to complete the mission. Bunny meets his mentor, Vishwa aka Baba (Kay Kay Menon) and insists that Bunny should be a part of their team. 8 years pass. In the year 2000, Honey now lives in Nainital with her daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar) and runs a cafe. She seems to have left her spy life. Sadly, her past catches up with her. Bunny, settled in Bucharest, learns about her and so do their enemies and they all reach Nainital. What happens next forms the rest of the series.
Citadel: Honey Bunny Story Review:
Sita R Menon, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s story is promising. But Sita R Menon, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s screenplay gives a been-there-done-that feeling. A few scenes, however, stand out for their novelty. Sumit Arora’s dialogues are funny and witty.
Raj-DK’s direction is stylish. To give credit where it’s due, the story keeps moving between 1992 and 2000 and this aspect is executed nicely. It keeps viewers intrigued as one gets curious to know what must have happened with the characters. A few scenes are novel like Honey meeting David Dsouza (Parmeet Sethi), Baba’s ‘burnt chicken test’ etc. It’s also amusing as well as impressive to see how Honey has trained Nadia from a young age.
On the flipside, the plot is weak after a point. It’s astonishing that no one had a clue where Honey was all these years, especially considering what she had in her possession. Things also happen at convenience. Honey and Bunny are able to escape every single time and after a point, it crosses all limits of cinematic liberties. Moreover, there has been an overdose of slick action films and shows. Hence, the impact is very limited. Even the one-take shot doesn’t awe viewers as we have seen this before many times.
Citadel: Honey Bunny Performances:
Varun Dhawan delivers a fabulous performance. He looks cool doing action but it’s in the emotional scenes where he impresses a lot. Samantha is terrific and constantly rises above the script. She has delivered several memorable performances in the past and this is surely one of her best acts. Kay Kay Menon, as always, is dependable. Kashvi Majmundar is adorable and makes the goings-on entertaining. Soham Majumdar and Shivankit Singh Parihar lend able support. Sikandar Kher (Shaan), as expected, is too good. Saqib Saleem (KD) is a surprise. He’ll be seen in a new light after this show. Thalaivasal Vijay (Dr Raghu Rao) is superb and his track is memorable. Simran (Sooni) and Mohit R Thakur are fair.
Citadel: Honey Bunny music and other technical aspects:
Aman Pant’s background score is catchy. Johan Heurlin Aidt’s cinematography is praiseworthy. Yannick Ben, Diyan Georigiev Hristov and Aejaz Gulab’s action is appealing and not gory at all. Meenal Agarwal’s production design brings alive the bygone era. Ameira Punvani’s costumes are appealing. Sumeet Kotian’s editing is fine – the series is only 6 episodes long – but it could have been shorter.
Citadel: Honey Bunny Conclusion:
On the whole, CITADEL: HONEY BUNNY rests on some memorable scenes and terrific performances by the lead and secondary cast. However, the show suffers on account of a weak script and also it offers nothing new in terms of action.
Rating – 2.5 stars
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