Citadel: Honey Bunny web series review: Slick action coupled with the solid performances makes this an engaging thriller

Raj and DK’s spin-off to Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Citadel’ is far superior to the American web series.
Citadel: Honey Bunny (Hindi); 06-11-2024, Action, Thriller, 6 episodes, 16+, OTT
  • Main Cast: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashavi Majumdar, Kay Kay Menon, Saqib Saleem, Sikander Kher, and Simran Bagga
  • Director: Raj and DK
  • Producer: Syed Zaid Ali and Alek Conic
  • Music Director: Sachin- Jigar
  • Cinematography:J ohn Heurlin Aidt
  • Rating :3/5

The American show Citadel (2023) is considered to be one of the most expensive web series produced. However, the response was quite lukewarm with not-so-great reviews from both the critics and the audiences. Despite that season two of Citadel has been announced.

Raj and DK’s Citadel: Honey and Bunny is a spin-off to this show. It doesn’t completely match up to the finesse of Raj and DK’s previous web shows— The Family Man (2019) and Farzi (2023)—but still it keeps you hooked.

The storyline of Citadel: Honey Bunny moves along two parallel timelines 1992 and 2000. Honey (Samantha) is an ambitious young woman who has run away from home with dreams of becoming an actress.

In pursuit of becoming an actor, her path crosses with that of Varun Dhawan’s Bunny a stunt coordinator. The friendship blossoms into love however Bunny is not what he appears to be. He is leading a double life as a spy for a secret agency.

Synopsis

Things take a turn when Honey, who first approaches Bunny to seek his help in becoming an actor, requests him to train her to be a spy.

Though Bunny initially hesitates, he soon agrees seeing her courage. Amidst this, enters another character Baba, played by Kay Kay Menon.

Kay Kay Menon is the leader of the spy group. He is also the one who has turned Bunny’s life around by picking him up from the orphanage and bringing him up with lots of love. Due to this, Bunny is devoted and loyal to Baba.

The aim of Kay Kay Menon and Co is to bring down “Operation Talwar” sabotaging a rival spy organization “Citadel” in the process.

As the mission progresses, big differences creep up between Honey and Bunny leading to a major cycle of events.

This is the story in brief, which is now available on Amazon Prime Video.

What works and what doesn’t

Samantha and Varun from Citadel Honey Bunny
Samantha and Varun from ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’. (X)

A strong aspect of Citadel: Honey Bunny is how Raj and DK have crafted the love story of the two primary characters. From the initial meet-cute moments to them developing feelings for each other has been wonderfully written and enacted.

The chemistry between Varun and Samantha comes across as organic. Even the scene leading up to their first kiss in the middle of a fun moment doesn’t feel forced.

Another strong aspect of Citadel: Honey Bunny is the dynamics between Baba and Bunny. Kay Kay Menon’s Baba is someone who alternates between being a bad man and also a fatherly figure for not just Bunny but the other guys too.

He inspires both fear and respect. The conversations between Baba and Bunny have an emotional depth with a particular mention of an orphanage scene in the sixth episode. Kay Kay Menon as usual does a very fine job of capturing the various nuances of Baba.

The production design of Citadel: Honey Bunny is quite commendable. Raj and DK along with the technical crew do a fine job in transporting the viewers back to the 90s and early 2000s.

One major problem with Citadel: Honey Bunny is the constant back-and-forth exploring the motivations of the various characters. This back-and-forth does help in giving a psychological insight into how the various struggles have shaped up the protagonists but it also slows down the show.

Another problem with Citadel: Honey Bunny is the underdevelopment of Simran’s character. Her character of Zooni needed better etching to have a stronger impact.

Performances

Samantha with Kashavi in Citadel Honey Bunny
Samantha with Kashavi in ‘Citadel: Honey Bunny’. (X)

Child actor Kashavi Majumdar playing Honey and Bunny’s daughter Nadia proves to be a major ace of this web series. Nadia has had to grow up well before time. She is thrust into the dark underbelly of the spy world.

Kashavi does a terrific job of portraying the internal conflict of a young girl whose carefree childhood has gone for a toss. She more than holds her own opposite Samantha brilliantly conveying resilience. The mother-and-daughter scenes give the show some of its best moments.

Samantha as Honey is successful in bringing out both the inner strength and vulnerability of her role. She simply aces the action sequences bringing in the intensity of a mother who is also a deadly spy.

A particular scene where she takes on a group of assassins while gently closing her daughter’s eyes to shield her from the bloodshed is brilliantly written and executed. Action is one of the mainstays of Citadel: Honey Bunny and the fight sequences are indeed a treat to watch particularly for those who like raw action.

Varun Dhawan as Bunny also shines particularly in the emotional scenes. A special mention must be made of his few scenes with Kashavi Majumdar. Saqib Saleem as the menacing KD also makes a striking impact. He proves to be a worthy opponent for Samantha and Varun.

Final take

To sum it up Citadel: Honey Bunny is worth a watch for those who are into gritty action and the spy world.

(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha Kandula.)

The Family Man Season 2: A Scintillating Sequel

The expectations from The Family Man Season 2 have been huge ever since its announcement. Fortunately the show turned out to be a worthy one. It not only matches up to the first part but it also goes a step ahead. Through the second season director duo Raj and DK continue to showcase their ability in dealing with conflicts both global and domestic through humanist lens. There are no simplistic heroes and villains here. Both sides come with their own shades of grey.

By the start of Season 2 Manoj Bajpai’s Srikant Tiwari had quit his task force job and joined an IT company. The reason for it is his guilt about certain events that happened at the end of the first season. He also wanted to make his family life work. But both were not working well for him. In fact things became worse.

The backdrop of Family Man Seaason 2 is Northern Sri Lanka. You have a Tamil government in exile who wants to take revenge on PM Basu ( Seema Biswas). Manoj Bajpai’s Srikant who is already vexed with his IT job decides to return back to where he belongs. This time around Srikant is dealing with a hardened LTTE militant Raji ( Samantha Akkineni).

In addition the old enemies have also made a comeback lead by Darshan Kumar. As part of the plan Darshan Kumar’s character along with another person Sajid uses a boy to trap Srikant’s daughter. This is only one side of the story but many other things are happening simultaneously.

The biggest take way from this season is how Raj and DK deal with the character of Samantha’s Raji and the entire LTTE thing in general. Samantha has said in various interviews that she doesn’t look at her character as a villain and you understand the reasons behind it when you see the show. Raji is someone who has faced brutality not only at the hands of the Sri Lankan soldiers but has also been abused by men in day to day life.

There are scenes where we see men trying to get into bed with her, you also have a random stranger trying to touch her inappropriately on a local bus. So her anger is not just about the governments but it is also about the patriarchy and the society at large.

Initially we see her as a very silent person with no expressions but as the story goes along we are introduced to the darker side of her life. Samantha embodies all these aspects of her character superbly and delivers a performance which pushes boundaries. Her performance in the action scenes is also top notch.

The scenes where the paths of Manoj Bajpai and Samantha cross keep you on your toes. One of my favourite scenes in the series is when Manoj Bajpai’s character question’s Samantha’s about their plans. Can’t give too much away as it will be spoilers but the scene works very well. In simple terms Raj and DK touch upon about how a freedom fighter is a terrorist for a person who is on the other side.  

The treatment of Samantha’s character also extends to the other LTTE ones. Raj and DK along with co writer Supan Varma show that although the path they have chosen is wrong we shouldn’t ignore the struggles and the sufferings that they have undergone.

Another important thing about the show is how Tamil characters speak. It comes across as very natural without sounding caricaturist (for example Chennai Express).

The moral dilemmas of Srikant Tiwari has also been explored well. This particularly comes out in a scene where he and his boss played by Dalip Tahil talk about a mishap related to the first season. This is regarding a Muslim student who gets branded as a terrorist because of Srikant’s mistake.

The friendship between Srikant and Sharib Hashmi’s JK also grows stronger in this one. There is a strong thread of emotion that comes out.

The family portions don’t get the same weightage as the first one but they still work. The character which gets the most growth in the family is the daughter Dhriti played by Ashlesha Thakur. Her character goes through a major transformation in this one. She gets into a relationship with Kalyan AKA Salman. One thing leads to another and eventually it is shown that Salman is not what he appears to be. He kidnaps her on his bosses’ command. In the eighth episode she saves herself from Salman and also from Sajid. She shows that she has inherited her father’s genes and can make for a great agent herself. After that incident we see a more mature Dhriti. Ashlesha Thakur is particularly good in the scenes where she saves herself.

The comedy bits work perfectly and come across as a major relief when the drama gets dark. The scenes which will make you chuckle the most are the ones where Srikant is struggling to adjust with his IT life. There are also some humorous scenes when the action shifts to South India. Most of the humour in these scenes comes from the stereotypes that north and south people have about each other. These include food and other things.

Manoj Bajpai as Srikant continues his good form and shows why he is the perfect actor to play this character. This time around there are more scenes which portray Srikant’s vulnerability and Manoj faces it. Sharib Hashmi continues his impressive form, out of the old nemeses Darshan Kumar looks very dashing and fits the part of the stylish villain perfectly.

The Family Man Season 2 is well worth the wait and it will be interesting to watch how Raj and DK take the franchise forward. Can’t wait for the third season!

Farzi: Another Global Crime Tackled With Finesse

A perfect package of entertainment

Summary

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupati, Rashi Khanna, Ragina Cassandra, Amol Palekar, Bhuvan Arora, and Zakir Hussain.
Director: Raj and DK
Producer: Raj and DK
Music: Sachin- Jigar, Tanishk Bagchi, and Ketan Sodha
Genre: Crime thriller
OTT platform: Amazon prime
Episodes: 8

The director duo of Raj and DK specialise in taking global issues and looking at them through a humanistic lens.

For example, in The Family Man Season 2, Through the character Raji — a hardened LTTE militant — played by Samantha they made a point that a freedom fighter for some could become a terrorist for others.

The crime — counterfeit currency

Most of the characters in The Family Man series had their share of moral ambiguities.

In Farzi, Raj and DK looked at the issue of counterfeit money.

Counterfeit currency — as everyone knows — is a currency that is not genuine but made to look exactly genuine to deceive people.

Farzi has similarities with both seasons of The Family Man, in the sense that here also a cat-and-mouse game along with a troubled personal life does exist.

Farzi is not as tight as the two seasons of The Family Man but there still is a lot to like here.

Farzi captures the journey of an antihero Sunny (Shahid Kapoor).

Sunny is a small-scale sketch artist with a lot of pent-up anger towards the system.

Sunny’s grandfather — played by veteran actor Amol Palekar — is an old-time journalist.

He runs a revolutionary magazine called Kranti, which does not sell much similar to most magazines of that genre.

As a result, a situation arises where the magazine has to be shut down following huge debts.

The tale around the crime

To revive the magazine, Sunny and his best friend Firoz (Bhuvan Arora) start designing counterfeit money.

Soon, Sunny and Firoz come to the notice of Mansoor (Kay Kay Menon), who is the biggest name in the world of counterfeiting, and become part of Mansoor’s business.

Initially, it is all about saving Nanu’s Kranti magazine but soon it becomes more of a self-destruction.

Parallel to this you have Michael (Vijay Sethupati) who is a fiery task force officer, hell-bent on eradicating fake currency in India.

He shares an interesting equation with the central minister played by Zakir Hussain. In this mix, there is also Megha (Rashi Khanna). Megha is an important cog in the team of Michael.

The rest of the story focuses on whether Michael will be successful in his mission or not and more importantly how Sunny’s life changes because of this illegal business.

The best of an anti-hero

The best part of Farzi is how the directors make you empathise with its anti-hero.

Audiences know that Sunny’s actions are not right but at the same time, they understand where Sunny is coming from.

There are many layers to Sunny, and through him, the director presents a psychological portrait of a man who is consumed by greed.

During the course, Sunny’s personality changes so much that even his loved ones fail to recognise him anymore.

Vijay Sethupati at his best

Farzi also dwells deeply into the topic of the production of fake notes and their infiltration into the economy. These details have a certain shock value and keep the audiences engrossed.

By its very nature, Farzi falls under gritty space but at the same time, there are also some highly entertaining moments.

The best of them involves Vijay Sethupati’s Michael and the central minister.

Their banter is filled with many entertaining lines that bring much-needed relief.

Raj and DK also deserve credit for the portrayal of Rashi Khanna’s Megha who can be seen in different spaces, not just her professional life.

Khanna plays Megha with the right amount of spunk even after standing opposite more experienced actors like Vijay Sethupati and Shahid Kapoor.

The rest of the cast’s performance

Sunny’s equation with grandpa has also got some tender moments.

There is a quiet dignity that Amol Palekar lends to his part as an idealistic journalist.

However, a little more info about the objectives of Kranti magazine would have made his character even more memorable.

The same applies to Michael’s troubled personal life. His moments with his wife (Ragina Cassandra) and the son are sweet but in the scheme of things they come across as more of an add-on.

There are a couple of scenes where Vijay Sethupati converses with Manoj Bajpai’s Srikant Tiwari from The Family Man series. This hints at a possible crossover between the two agents in season two of Farzi.

Shahid Kapoor’s knock-out performance

Shahid Kapoor as Sunny delivers a knockout performance. Shahid has always been good at playing conflicted heroes and in Farzi too he lives up to it. He captures the various shades of Sunny with the required finesse.

Vijay Sethupati is a treat to watch as the fiery task force officer.

It takes a little time to get used to hearing Vijay Sethupati speak Hindi but he grows on you as the series progresses.

He is at his best, particularly in the lighter moments. Kay Kay Menon is someone who doesn’t need a particular introduction and here too the veteran is in solid form.

Last but not least Bhuvan Arora gives solid support. He instantly makes you fall in love with Firoz.

The verdict

The technical departments led by cinematographer Pankaj Kumar are also in perfect sync with the gritty nature of the series.

In a nutshell, Raj and DK continue their streak of delivering solid content with a perfect package of important issues and entertainment.

Some Of My Favorite Web Series Across Languages (2021)

Firstly advanced happy New Year and here’s hoping that we will finally get rid of this COVID in 2022. Following is a list of the web series that I have liked most this year. Out of the eight web series that I have chosen there are two Telugu, four Hindi, one English and one Pakistani.

Pakistani

Dhoop Ki Deewar– Director Haseeb Hasan’s Dhoop Ki Deewar is a show which is much needed for today’s times. Through a heart wrenching love story the director conveyed a strong anti- war message. The series begins off with an intense India and Pakistan cricket match. You have two families cheering for their respective nations. One family is from Amritsar and the other one is from Lahore.

The first episode gives you a basic idea about these two families. The audiences soon come to know that they are army ones. The main characters are Sara Sher Ali (Sajal Ally) and Vishal Malhotra (Ahad Raza). The fathers of these two are fighting in the Indian- Pakistan border in Jammu & Kashmir. Sara and Vishal don’t know that their lives are going to change forever.

Haseeb Hasan gets many things right with the show. One of those things is the consumption of entertainment across the nations. For example Vishal is shown to be a fan of Atif Aslam songs. The Indian family on one hand is shown to be fond of Pakistani dramas; on the other hand the Pakistani family is shown to be fond of Indian dramas. All these things are narrated in an entertaining way.

The love story between the leads keeps you guessing regarding where it is going to end. At one point it looks like they may have a happily ever after but that is soon drowned with the twists towards the final few episodes. The climax is a highly emotional one; it is very difficult not to be moved. Sajal Ally and Ahad Raza bring the characters to life with their terrific performances. Both of them are equally good and that also helps the audiences in making them root for the characters.

English

1. Sex Education Season 3– There is a major reason why the sex education series is hugely popular. It is a series which had juggled many delicate issues like teen sexuality, gender identity etc. All this was done in such a way that you never feel like being lectured. Sex education season 3 was a worthy successor as it goes a step further. This time the focus was on women’s rights, patriarchy and loving oneself.

Sex education season 3

For those who haven’t seen the first two seasons the plot primarily followed the journey of Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield). He is a student at Moordale Secondary school. Otis is slightly ambivalent toward sex. The reason for that is his divorced mother Jean (Gillian Anderson). She is a sex therapist who has frequent affairs but is unable to maintain relationships.

Another major character is that of Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey).  Otis and Maeve set up a sex therapy business in school in order to help the students who have sexual problems. Season 2 was majorly about an outbreak called Chlamydia that causes students to question and struggle against topical issues.

Coming to Season 3 a major highlight of this one was how it dealt with the female characters. They were written with lot of insight. This insight can be particularly seen with Maeve and also the pregnancy of Otis mother Jean Melbourn. The writing of these characters was also strong in the first two ones but this time it went a notch higher. Emma Mackey and Gilan Anderson were the best out of the ensemble cast.

Telugu

1. Kudi Yedamaithe– Pawan Kumar’s Kudi Yedamaithe was based on an interesting premise of two people having already lived through a particular day. In the hands of a less competent director this premise would have fallen flat but Pawan Kumar did an extremely good job in making the audiences engrossed throughout.

The series comprised of eight episodes and it never deviated from its core plot. Thankfully, there were no forceful insertions like comedy track or songs. The two characters in question here are Adi (Rahul Vijay) and cop Durga (Amala Paul). Durga has her hands full as she is busy trying to catch the child kidnappers. Adi on the other hand is a delivery boy with aspirations of becoming an actor. The core plot is about whether these two can change the turn of events since they are aware of what the rest of the day holds.

One of the major strengths of the series is the subtle variations that the director brings to the table in terms of how he presents the events. This can be particularly seen with Adi’s character. The director also makes sure that the concept of time loop never gets into a boring zone. While Amala Paul is in good form as Durga it is Rahul Vijay who surprises you. He gets equal footage to show his potential.

2.  Unheard– Aditya KV’s Unheard is a series which packs in a lot. There are multiple themes going on. For example you have the ideological stand offs between the revolutionaries. It is a lot to focus on but the director does a good job of keeping you invested.

The series starts off with an idealistic young Gandhian Padma (Chandini Chowdary). She seeks help for an injured comrade played by Priyadarshini. The doctor who helps her is Chalapati (Bala Aditya). The night passes with Padma and Chalapati having heated arguments on the benefits and banes of Nizam rule along with the price of freedom. The next episode is about two revolutionaries with different ideologies, along with Priyadarshini this episode also features Ajay. The rest of the episodes mostly bring back the familiar characters.

One of the most striking aspects of the series is the conversations between the revolutionaries. The series by nature is heavy on dialogues as the characters are frequently saying their point of views. Thankfully the dialogues also written by Aditya KV are just as powerful. These dialogues along with the performances of the actors also aided the script.

Hindi

1. Family Man Season 2– The expectations from Family Man Season 2 was immense, fortunately season 2 more than lived up to the expectations. In fact it was better than the first one. Just like the first season director duo Raj and DK continued to showcase their ability in dealing with conflicts both global and domestic through humanist lens. You don’t come across simplistic heroes and villains here. There are shades of grey on both sides.

By the end of Season 1 Manoj Bajpai’s Srikant Tiwari had quit his task force job and joined an IT company. The reason for that is his guilt about certain events that had happened at the end of the first season. He also wanted to make his family life work but his attempts at neither are working. He is getting fed up of the IT job and the family life has become worse.

The backdrop of Season 2 is Northern Sri Lanka. Samantha’s character Raji is a hardened LTTE militant. The basic storyline is Srikant Tiwari deciding that he has had enough and returning back to where he belongs. The task of Srikant Tiwari this time is to save PM Basu (Seema Biswas) from the hands of LTTE. In addition the old nemeses have also made a comeback.

The biggest triumph of Family Man Season 2 is how Raj and DK deal with the characters of Samantha’s Raji and the entire LTTE thing in general. Samantha had said in various interviews that she doesn’t look at her character as a villain. You understand why she said like that when you see the show. Raji is someone who has faced brutality at the hands of both Sri lankan soldiers and also men in day to day life. Her anger is not just about the governments but it is also about patriarchy.

Samantha embodied all these aspects of her character and delivered a performance that pushes boundaries. The way she did the action scenes was also first rate. Manoj Bajpai as Srikant Tiwari started off from where he left off in the season. Sharab Hasmi in his supporting was equally impressive just like the first part.

2. Grahan– Rajesh Chandel’s Grahan was based on the novel  Chaurasi written by Satya Vyas. The eight episodes covers a story that is set three decades from each other, however there is a commonality that binds them.

Zoya Hussain plays the righteous police officer Amrita Singh. She firmly believes in using her position for the betterment of society. Pawan Malhotra plays the father. When Amrita tries to solve a case of an honest journalist she faces opposition from top politicians. Frustrated she decides to resign, but things take a turn when an old case regarding the Sikh riots in a place called Bokaro comes up. Her world comes crashing down as she finds that her father is the prime suspect in this case.

The most striking aspect of Grahan is the parallels that the director draws between 1984 India and today’s one. There are some sharp observations on how people can be quickly incited by What’sApp forwards and political manipulation. There are some scenes in the present timeline which show how easily people believe in these rumors and turn against each other in spite of living with them for a long time. The underlying message is that the issues are the same whether it is 1984 India or today’s one.

The emotional scenes between Zoya and Pavan Malhotra also struck a chord with the audiences.

3. Mumbai Diaries– Mumbai Diaries directed by Nikhil Advani and Nikhil Gonsalves is a gripping drama that is both emotional and intriguing. The directors took the real life incidents of 26//11 and penned down a fictional story.

The director duo set their story in a crowded, chaotic and low- on resources government hospital. The doctors and nurses are pushed to their limits as victims of gunshots are wheeled in one after another on the night of November 26th.

Although the medical professionals are the centre of the story they are not the only ones under the spotlight. In essence Mumbai Diaries is about the spirit of the people. It was a night where everyone had to be on their toes to fight this unexpected attack.

The biggest success of Mumbai Diaries lies in how they made a thriller that is both heartbreaking and heart stopping. The series makes you applaud the courage and the determination that both men and women showed in the face of death. It also avoided the cliché route of pitting one nation against another, or one religion against another.

Out of the huge ensemble the ones who stood out were Mohit Raina, Konkana Sen Sharma and Satyajit Dubey.

4. The Empire– Mitakshara Kumar’s The Empire was based on Alex Rutherford’s novel The Raiders from the north. It was the first in the series written by Alex Rutherford. The book essentially covered the journey of Babur from Fergana to setting up the Mughal Empire. Apart from Kunal Kapoor as Babur the ensemble cast also included Dino Morea, Shabana Azmi, Drashti Dhami etc.

The Empire wasn’t exactly as engaging as the book but it was still consistently watchable on the account of several factors.

The scale of the series was undoubtedly very striking. The camerawork by Nigam Bomzan and the production design by Priya Suhas was successful in transporting the audience. Mitakshara Kumar worked as an assistant director for several years under Sanjay Leela Bhansali, you can clearly see the influence of her mentor.

Just like Ranveer’s Khilji Dino Morea also had a more of an impactful role compared to Kunal Kapoor who played Babur. Initially we see Dino’s character as a ruthless villain but slowly a psychological insight is also given. His scenes with Drashti Dhami’s Khanzada Begum showed a different side to the character.

The female characters of Dhrasti Dhami and Shabana Azmi were another good aspect of the series. Drashti Dhami in particular molded herself well in a character that requires her to be bold yet restrained and impactful. Both the women characters play an important role in the politics of the kingdom and aren’t mere bystanders.

This is all about the year ender web series, once again advanced Happy New Year.