Why Dev scares Indian censors…

Jai Shri Ramrdquo as a refrainsalutation shows up in Monkey Man 2024 written directed and enacted by moviestar of Indian origin Dev Patel Only that dialogue comes from Lord Hanuman in a puppet show depicting RamayanThe movie itself opens with Lord Hanuman or balchild Hanuman to be precise Wherein lirsquol Hanuman gets supremely hungryTo satiate this hunger he aims for a ldquoraseelardquoripe mango turning to the sky This luminous mango instead is the burning sun which he gobbles upOf course Hanuman is a child He must still be castigated for this dangerous transgression The punishment to Lord Hanuman by the Gods is that hersquos henceforth stripped of all his powers Or at least the selfawareness of themHow does this fable relate to the movie that is after all titled Monkey Man The parallels are kinda obvious The underprivileged protagonist played by Patel belongs to a completely marginalised community stripped of his ancestral land for industries to come upHersquos a ringfightermdashwith mask of a monkey on his face Itrsquos hard to fathom this Indian streetstyle sport thatrsquos a cross between akharatype wresting and MMA Roughly think of it as the caged fight scenes in the Sunny Deol starrer Ghatak 1996The emcee in the fighting ring is a white guy whorsquos good with Hindi expletives The gora says there are no Hindus Muslims Christianshellip Everybody worships the ldquoIndian rupeerdquoItrsquos hard to imagine this as authentically Bombay with handpainted Bollywood posters and Bappi Lahirirsquos voice for Ooh la la The Dirty Picture 2011 for the foreground score But only as hard as it was to accept Patel himself as the Bombay boy struggling for survival on the meanest streets where jungle is the laylaw of the land in Slumdog Millionaire 2008 which made the Brit actor a global starOver a decade and half since as debutant director Monkey Man seems Patelrsquos personal tribute to Slumdog if not a return gift He literally feeds a dog in a slumtype exterior of the poshest nightclub in this picWhat struck us about Slumdog thoughmdasha testament to filmmaker Danny Boylersquos striking visionmdashwere the gritty visuals by cinematographer Anthony Dod MantleMany Indians had dismissed it as poverty porn then Itrsquos not like Boyle or Dod Mantle had erected sets They effectively captured what theysaw of BombayThe India of Monkey Man is obviously East Asia or Indonesia actually The fictional city is named Yatana Patel has barely made an effort to conceal this visible change of location despite quickcuts and extreme closeups It wouldnrsquot matter either to those the movie is primarily intended formdashmainly mainstream western audiences that I watched Monkey Man at a multiplex in downtown Manhattan withThe autorickshaw chase sequence is just as exhilarating as it gets The point of the picmdashseamlessly juxtaposing images of extreme poverty with incredible wealth that typifies Bombaymdashworks just as well Truly the finest is the bathroom fight sequence between Patel and a suitably ferocious Sikander Kher as the villainous cop Nameless Monkey Man has actor Pitobash for Alphonso his righthand manIf anything Sobhita Dhulipala in a short role as Sita is the lsquoLatikarsquo of this Slumdog Equally loved Zakir Hussain in person and on tabla jamming with sound of gloved fist hitting a punching bag in a gym Monkey Man is altogether a relentless actioner But how do you intellectually deepen lsquoJohn Wickrsquo to give it an Oscarlike credmdashlike say Ramin Bahranirsquos The White Tiger 2021Patel attempts this through metaphors and symbolisms that frankly lovers of the freakoid fastpaced thrillers will hardly notice let alone care forSuch as Lord Shiva and Parvati in the same statue as both male and female signifying devotion plus destruction that a transgender character played by actor Vipin Sharma swears byThere is reference to the Vedas for a tree planted by Lord Shiva At the roots of which rest ldquotoxins that a weakened man can benefit fromrdquoA lsquogodmanrsquo who mixes religion to peddle politics occupies the wider backdrop of Monkey Man This Baba Shakti Makarand Deshpande lsquoMac Sirrsquo foists upon the nation a leader to do the bidding for corporates eyeing lands to dispossess the poor for mining profitsThe leader climbs up electoral polls owing to violence against minorities The filmrsquos climax is set in a fundraiser with that leader following Baba Shaktirsquos footstepsNow any of whatrsquos mentioned above couldrsquove alerted the Indian film censors to summarily stall the theatrical release of Patelrsquos directorial debut instead of even ordering cold cutsTheyrsquore evidently extracautious with popular entertainment Lest it upset anyone perennially looking to take offence for any kinda content with an iota of religiouspolitical undertoneIrsquom told Netflix had bowed out of Monkey Man too Patel produced it himself Actor comedian Jordan Peele came onboard the production after the filming Clearly he loved what he saw As did I for the most partI donrsquot know if Indian censors will eventually pass the picmdashhence this selective description for your vicarious pleasureawareness I think they shouldWhether audiences wholly enjoy it or notmdashMonkey Man is simply a grim resolute swashbuckler more John Wick than Slumdog trippy AF Thatrsquos the only way to view itMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper

Why Dev scares Indian censors…

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Home / News / Opinion / Article / Why Dev scares Indian censors…

Why Dev scares Indian censors…

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Bollywood News

India News

Cricket

Latest Headlines

Javed Akhtar on AI: 'It’s a reality we cannot wish away'

PM Modi arrives in Bhutan for two-day visit to attend King’s 70th birthday

Mumbai cricket’s unmatchable mettle!

Delhi weather: Season's worst air quality in Delhi, AQI 'severe' at 423