Monica, O My Darling
Based on Keigo Higashino’s novel Heart of Brutus (Japanese: Burutasu No Shinzou)
Directed by Vasan Bala
Written by Yogesh Chandekar
Starring Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte etc
Produced by Matchbox shots
Dialogues by Vasan Bala and Yogesh Chandekar
Music and BG Score: Achint Thakkar (Previously Scam 1992 fame, but now, Monica O my Darling Fame)
Cinematographer: Swapnil S. Sonawane & Sukesh Viswanath
Available to watch on Netflix
An ode to the 60's crime thrillers would be oversimplifying things to describe the movie. Though its not a wrong description.
We are at a symposium of a company called Unicorn Enterprises. It's a tech company, it's a robotics company and a young man, a genius, a tech genius named Jayant played by Rajkumar Rao, he is going to be named the Head Of the company gentle. Born poor and rose to the top purely on merit, Jayant. Now, this does not sit well with Nepo kid, Nishikant, played by the brilliant Sikandar Kher, The founder’s son. He’s upset that he’s been passed over to join the board of directors. Apparently, Unicorn Enterprises is totally unlike Bollywood because talented Outsiders, are brought in and nurtured and given a path all the way to the top. This is a blackmail and murder Saga, based on a Japanese novel called Heart of Brutus that is the source material apart. This is very much though, the work of this particular director Vasan Bala.. It's not about what's happening. It's about feeling the vibe of a particular thing. If you are for certain vintage, it's not about whether you see the film, it's about how you feel the film. Again. It's about the why. Now you can say the same thing about Monica, in terms of plot, what you feel, is the Noose tightening around Jayant, the she can't and a guy named Arvind.
Now, all these three men are connected to Monica in some way, but in terms of vibe, you feel that you are in a retro movie, the kind of movie, where a man gets really, really bad news, just seconds after being gifted a good luck charm, the other kind of retro comes from the movie is the title of course comes from the song, ‘Piya tu, ab toh aaja’ by R.D Burman, but you could also see this stylish noir light film. I didn’t particulary relate with any of the characters, perhaps because I am not a murderer, or perhaps, because the stakes weren’t high enough.I just wish the stakes have been higher for the protagonist but I really didn't mind because this light white fits in with the film's core values.
I think Vasan Bala may be creating his own Cinematic Universe. If you remember, MKDNH Radhika Madan played a character named SuprI She makes a mini appearance here,also a small cameo by Abhimanyu Dasani, who played the protagonist in THAT film. Terms of the cast Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi almost everyone is ACES, but there are two special mentions that I want to make. The first scene stealer is the Netflix evergreen, Radhika Apte. There's a not-so-playfulness in her performance here, which have not seen her show in any other film before.The second scene stealer is Akansha Ranjan Kapoor who plays Jayant's fiancé, There’s a scene where she says, Do I look sad? She asked this question to Jayant that was just hilarious!! You have to watch the movie find out. This is see that plays out against a TV program. That's going on about the different types of cobras or snakes in Maharashtra, that scene had me in splits too.
Yogesh Chandekar is the writer and he seems to have Indianized the Japanese novel,exactly the way Vasan Bala wanted but the biggest reason I enjoyed this playful, vengeful, Noir light movie is the score by Achint Thakkar. Remember the Retro song Bom, Bom, Bom, Bom, Bombay meri hai, there is a song here with that exact feel. In other words, this film's music has been created with highly specific cues and because the music bursts out in the most unexpected places, you could almost call it a Tarantinoesque. This adds to the humour it also asks the sadness like at the scene where a couple is having a very comical and very madcap kind of argument over the Phone while someone else is dying to the strains of a song, that's right out of something by maybe Jim Reeves. Vasan Bala has made his second straight Masala makes movie. Don't miss the robot, that resembles a reptile again, it goes back to the snake but I don't know who this flavor is going to work for a third time. And if that doesn't make you want to watch this movie, I don't know what will, so that's it about Monica. Oh My Darling.Monica, O My Darling.
P.S. The Easter Eggs, how could i forget about the easter eggs in the film. You see several easter eggs in the film, many of them being an ode to Sriram Raghavan and his filmmaking.
RATINGS:
1)PLOT: 3.5/5:
2)CINEMATOGRAPHY: 3.5/5
3)MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE:5/5
4)ENTERTAINMENT FACTOR: 4/5
KEETABI KEEDA RATING: 4/5
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