Citadel Honey Bunny Trailer launch: Leaping into the past, via the present and the future

Wait and watch. November 7, 2024 is the date. The third? chapter in the series. With credentials that span India and the USA, and is set in Mumbai, shot in locales like Bhayandar. No set-pieces for Raj and D.K., who believe in the wild outdoors. It comes on the heels of the Italian edition, and covers the ‘generation gap’ in the Indian segment (read on). The heady mix of James Bond and Jane Bond, two heroes for the price of one. Bringing together the genius of the Russo Brothers (Whiz Kids from the citadel called USA) and Raj and DK (Indian Engineers duo, turned men with the magic touch, from the City Del-ight, called Mumbai). They love the curious contrast that a title like Honey Bunny evokes among the audience, being a spy action thriller in genre. And don’t worry, if H is for Honey, B for Bunny, there is also F for funny. But I guess that adding that to the title would be a bit much. So Honey Bunny it is.

A worldwide franchise, the series is not content with spanning the world. It also wants to bridge the generation gap. “Nobody knows who were the parents of James Bond. But we are telling you who the parents of Nadia Sinh were,” averred Raj and DK. The occasion was the launch of the trailer of Citadel Honey Bunny, at the J.W. Marriott, Juhu, Mumbai, on the 15^th of October 2024. On stage were a panel that consisted of the above named duo, Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, some of the co-actors, co-writer Sita Menon and the high brass duo at Amazon Prime. Missing, of course, was Aparna Purohit, who has moved on, after a long stint at Amazon’s OTT platform.

In May this year, Prime Video announced that Aparna Purohit, Head of Originals for India and Southeast Asia, has left the Amazon streamer. Purohit had joined Amazon in January 2016, and served a substantial eight and a half years. A few weeks later, Nikhil Madhok, Head of Original Hindi Content, was promoted to replace her. Madhok is quite new to the company, having joined the streaming giant only in September 2022, as the Head of Hindi Originals for Prime Video and Amazon Studios. Before joining Amazon Prime Video, he played a pivotal role at Disney+ Hotstar, where he led the original content division. As the driving force behind Hotstar Specials, Madhok was instrumental in the conception and launch of the platform’s original programming. Under his leadership, Disney+ Hotstar produced a series of acclaimed shows, including Special Ops, Aarya, Criminal Justice, Human, Grahan, and Ghar Waapsi. Purohit, in the meanwhile Aparna has joined Aamir Khan Productions, as the CEO. Madhok was there, as was Gaurav Gandhi.

Gaurav Gandhi used to oversee Prime Video’s comprehensive business strategy in the region, as Vide-President, APAC, managing Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) through the Prime Video Store and Prime Video channels. Gandhi handled key international markets for Prime Video, such as Japan and India, along with more recent expansions in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. He has, since, also been saddled with the additional charge of Middle East-North Africa (MENA).

Now for some Citadel facts. In Season 1, Mason Kane (Richard Madden) is a top Citadel spy. As is Mason’s partner on some missions, Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), another top spy. After a fateful mission abroad, their memories are wiped, and years later, we discover Mason living a quiet life as Kyle Conroy. Thrust back into the world of spies. Kane and Nadia Sinh must untangle a web of dangerous secrets, threatening his family and the world.

Season 1 made its debut on April 28, 2023, with a reported $300 million budget, one of the highest budgets in TV history. There has been much confusion about the launch of Season 2. But after the event yesterday, it was clear that at least the Indian segment is not more than three weeks away. Compere Sachin Kumbhar went to the extent of saying that the Series was now in its 2 ½ segment, with Citadel Season 2 under shooting and Honey Bunny under a countdown. But let’s stick to Citadel Honey Bunny.

The Indian instalment features Varun Dhawan and Samantha in the lead, as the parents of Nadia Sinh (played as an adult by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and as a child by eight year-old wunderkind, Kashvi Majmundar; cannot confirm how her surname is spelt) and the versatile Kay Menon, along with an exciting ensemble cast that includes Simran, Saqib Saleem, Sikandar Kher, Soham Majumdar, Shivankit Parihar, and Kashvi Majmundar. Except for Saqib and Kay, they were all present. Kay Kay’s casting has been described as an example of his versatility. Playing Baba, a spy master who recruits Bunny, he could have sleep-walked into the role, having played similar characters in a dozen films.

In this segment, set in the 1990s, Bunny (Varun Dhawan) recruits struggling actress Honey (Samantha) for a side gig, but they are hurled into a high-stakes world of action, espionage, and betrayal. Years later, as their dangerous past catches up, the estranged Honey and Bunny must reunite, and fight to protect their young daughter, Nadia. To suggest a 90s ambience, one spotted a 2-in-1 Radio Cassette Recorder placed strategically on a table near the entrance to the venue.

At the much delayed event, everybody waxed eloquent. Encomiums were uttered by the dozen. Varun made an interesting revelation that he had asked his badminton partner Aditya Chopra to make a high-octane action film with him, but Chopra, who made the Tiger series starring Salman Khan, and Pathan, had replied that his company did not have the kind of funds required to make such a film. Apparently, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s D2R Films, Amazon MGM Studios and the Russo brothers’ AGBO, the producers of Honey Bunny, have. Incidentally, the Russo Brothers connected with the audience via Video Conferencing, saying the predictable words. Varun also pointed out that, being engineers by qualification, Raj and D.K. could see mechanical irregularities in scenes like cars toppling over at the wrong angle. Kashvi came across as more than precocious child-star, rattling off gem after gem, each one belying her age. Whether she was helped by the tele-prompter that Kumbhar was using cannot be said for sure.

Citadel began in the present, showed us the future unravelling, and in the trailer of Citadel Honey Bunny, we see the past, a journey that means leaping into the past, via the present and the future. No wonder both Varun Dhawan and Paul Bazely play Rahi Gambhir (a name that translates as Serious/sombre/grim Traveller), aka Honey. What a sweet nickname! The trailer includes a face-off between Samantha and Varun, guns pointing at each other. Seriously, will somebody take this seriously?

Trailer: https://youtu.be/ZQuuw18Yicw