Overview
Citadel: Honey Bunny is an Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller streaming television series, released on Amazon Prime Video in November 2024. It is part of the global Citadel franchise developed by the Russo Brothers' AGBO production company for Prime Video, and serves as a regional extension of the original American series Citadel (2023). The series is created, written and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., the filmmaking duo collectively known as Raj & DK.
Key facts
| Title | Citadel: Honey Bunny |
|---|---|
| Genre | Spy thriller, action |
| Language | Hindi |
| Created by | Raj & DK (Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.) |
| Directed by | Raj & DK |
| Lead cast | Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kay Kay Menon, Saqib Saleem, Sikandar Kher |
| Production companies | D2R Films, AGBO |
| Distributor | Amazon Prime Video |
| Release date | 7 November 2024 |
| Number of episodes | 6 |
| Franchise | Citadel |
Background
The Citadel franchise was conceived by Joe and Anthony Russo through their banner AGBO as a multi-region television project for Prime Video, with the flagship American series headlined by Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas premiering in April 2023. The franchise plan envisaged interconnected local-language spin-offs set within the same fictional universe, with each regional series anchored by filmmakers from that territory. Citadel: Honey Bunny is the Indian instalment, while Citadel: Diana, an Italian production, was released earlier in October 2024.
The Indian series was developed by Raj & DK, who had previously made the espionage drama The Family Man for Prime Video. The duo wrote the series along with Sita R. Menon. Production was carried out by their banner D2R Films in association with AGBO.
Plot
Set largely in the early 1990s with parallel sequences in 2000, the series follows Honey, a struggling actress and stunt performer, and Bunny, a stuntman who is secretly an operative working for a covert agency. Their relationship, shaped by deception and tradecraft, becomes the centre of a wider conflict involving rogue intelligence networks. Years later, their young daughter Nadia draws Honey back into the dangerous world Bunny had inhabited. The narrative establishes the Indian counterpart of the global Citadel agency and connects it with the larger franchise mythology.
Cast
- Varun Dhawan as Bunny
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Honey
- Kay Kay Menon as Vishwa, the principal antagonist
- Saqib Saleem as Chacko
- Sikandar Kher as KD
- Kashvi Majmundar as Nadia
- Soham Majumdar, Shivankit Singh Parihar and Simran Bahl in supporting roles
Production
Casting was announced in 2022, with Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu confirmed as the leads; the project marked Dhawan's debut in long-format streaming and Samantha's first Hindi-language series. Filming took place across multiple Indian and international locations. The series uses a dual-timeline structure, with extensive period production design recreating Indian urban settings of the early 1990s alongside contemporary sequences.
The action and stunt design drew on international action choreography templates established by the parent Citadel series, while the dramatic core retained the character-driven approach typical of Raj & DK's earlier work.
Release
All six episodes of Citadel: Honey Bunny were released simultaneously on Amazon Prime Video on 7 November 2024 in Hindi, with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and English, and made available across the platform's global markets.
Significance
The series is among the highest-profile Indian original productions on Prime Video and represents the platform's strategy of integrating Indian storytelling into a global franchise. It is also notable as one of the first Indian streaming projects to be officially positioned as part of a shared cinematic universe with American and European counterparts. For Raj & DK, it expanded their work in the espionage genre after The Family Man, and for the lead actors it marked a significant move into the streaming long-format space.
Related topics
- Raj & DK
- The Family Man (TV series)
- Amazon Prime Video India
- Varun Dhawan
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu
- Kay Kay Menon
- Citadel (TV series)
- AGBO
- Indian web series
References
- Official series page, Amazon Prime Video.
- Press releases and announcements by Prime Video India regarding the Citadel franchise.
- Interviews with Raj & DK and the principal cast published in Indian entertainment media at the time of release.