The star-studded Indian spin-off of the Citadel franchise, Honey Bunny, is now streaming on Amazon Prime, and while the series has its fair share of drawbacks, it is definitely the most entertaining entry of the spy-universe so far. The regional offshoots of the original Citadel series were supposed to be independent entries that use the basic structure of the original narrative but explore characters and storylines of their own without depending on it. Set in Italy, the first spin-off of the franchise, Citadel: Diana, went down this route, where the connection with the original series was barely present aside from key continuity references. It’s a completely different story with Honey Bunny, where events are connected with the original series to such an extent that it can be termed a prequel to Citadel.
Honey Bunny reflects the interconnected nature of the narrative through two major plot details. Nadia’s identity gains new meaning in the context of the original series, and the Foundation acts as a precursor to Citadel’s rival agency, Manticore.
Spoilers Ahead
Nadia’s Journey Reflects Honey’s Own
One of the major highlights of Honey Bunny was Honey’s relationship with her daughter, whom she named after her favorite 40s stuntwoman/actress, Fearless Nadia. As a former Foundation spy who betrayed her organization, Honey knew turning a new page in life was a fantasy for her, and the fact that she and her daughter are never going to be truly safe from her murky past. Which is why Honey had trained Nadia to be as brave and self-dependent as she was from a young age, resulting in the little kid maturing a lot in her early days. Honey’s decision to coach Nadia to become tough had its own repercussions; the kid lost her childhood and had to witness the terrible reality of her mother’s former trade. However, it was a necessary risk that ensured Nadia’s survival in the unforgiving world of spy agency rivalry.
Nadia’s identity doesn’t seem to bear much significance until her father, Bunny’s real name, is revealed later in the series. Given how blinded Bunny became while following Vishwa’s orders, Honey, who became aware of Vishwa’s dastardly totalitarian ideology, lost trust in Bunny and decided to keep Nadia’s existence a secret from him. Later on, as Bunny and Honey reconciled, it was revealed Stuntman Bunny’s real name was Rahi Gambhir.
If the name sounds familiar to Citadel series fans, then that’s because Rahi Gambhir appears in the original series, which is set almost 18 years after Honey Bunny, where he is labeled an international terrorist and is revealed to be the father of Citadel Agent Nadia Sinh, the lead role played by Priyanka Chopra in the series. According to the existing lore, this means at some point of time after the events of Honey Bunny, Honey had joined Citadel and worked as an operative of the organization she once fought against, and after her demise, her daughter, Nadia, a trained, highly skilled operative in her own regard, joined Citadel under the guidance of Mason Kane. As they say, like mother, like daughter, Nadia’s journey reflects that of her mother’s own. Just like how Honey wanted to turn her back on the father of her child after realizing his allegiance and motivations were not trustworthy and decided to raise their child on her own, Nadia too decided to keep Mason in the dark about their daughter, Asha, and wanted to raise her in seclusion after becoming aware of Mason’s unpredictable, unreliable nature. The irony is, Nadia took her father, Rahi Gambhir, aka Bunny’s, help in raising her daughter, and by this time Rahi had surely learned his lesson from past experiences to prioritize his family over everything else.
As for why Rahi was regarded as a terrorist by Citadel in the future, it remains unknown. Perhaps the fact that he had been such a nuisance for Citadel agents for so long earned him this classification; after all, the so-called peacekeeping organizations are quick to brand and judge others, not taking into account their activities, but the relationships they share with the said organizations. In any case, the future version of Rahi was revealed to have possible ties with Manticore, which resulted in Nadia being suspected as a turncoat after her connection with Rahi was revealed to Citadel agents.
Foundation Acted As Precursor To Manticore
Moving away from the Citadel-Manticore rivalry, Honey Bunny featured a new counter-intelligence agency known as the Foundation, created by Guru, who was inspired by the vision of former Citadel chief Rinzy to take down Citadel, which they deemed to have become too autocratic and manipulative for its own good. To counter Citadel’s global influence, Guru created a network that included influential figureheads across the world who were unified by their singular motivation of assuming complete control over the geopolitical scene and ensuring peace through a totalitarian world order. It should sound familiar to original series fans, as Manticore, founded by the wealthiest families and oligarchs across the world, used a similar motto to ensure their complete command over world events to suit their personal needs and destroy Citadel. The Foundation’s connection with Manticore is hinted further with a cameo presence of Ettore Zani in Honey Bunny, who wanted to be a part of Guru’s Foundation and later on goes to be one of the founding members of Manticore as well. Also, Armada, the specialized advanced chip that could have accelerated the global mass surveillance operation Foundation wanted to orchestrate, seems like a prototype version of Jupiter—the biotech super weapon shown in Citadel: Diana, which Ettore Zani wanted to use to assume godlike control by gaining information through infecting the world populace with Jupiter.
Vishwa/Guru’s future remains unknown, and it is not revealed whether during the events of Citadel he survived or not. But given how significant his role has turned out to be in the creation of Manticore in the future and the way actor Kay Kay Menon has aced the role with all, it will be foolishness not to bring Guru in the future installments of the series.
