Monkey Man (2024) is an action thriller film directed, produced, and starring Dev Patel. He also co-wrote the script alongside Paul Angunawela and John Collee. The film follows the compelling story of an unnamed Indian man (in the credits listed merely as ‘Kid’). Throughout the movie, he goes to great lengths to find and kill the men responsible for the death of his mother and the burning of his village.
The narrative places old Hindu texts in dialogue with issues present in modern-day India. The movie admirably balances hard-hitting themes, sombre moments of grief and dizzyingly impressive fight scenes. The story slowly eases you into a blood bath, not letting you emerge until the very last scene.
Quiet yet rageful, Kid (Dev Patel) reconciles his past to conquer his present. Throughout the film, he evolves into a stronger and more calculated character. His connection to his faith and the memories of his mother grounds his battle with a painful tangibility. The power of Patel’s performance rests in its subtly, the understated nuances embedded into the slightest glance and twitch. All of this slowly builds up to a crescendo of unbridled brutality.
Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) is the name and face imprinted on Kid’s mind and the perpetrator of his mother’s death. The audience inherits Kid’s mingling of fear and disgust for him. He is a horrifying antagonist, a police officer who carries himself with a sickening entitlement. His presence in every scene creates an uneasiness that is difficult to place but always pervading.
Baba Shakti (Makarant Deshpande) acts as the distant but perfect foil to Kid, a religious leader corrupted by greed and his vision of grandiose.
The accompaniment of Alphonso (Pitobash Tripathy), the crude but entertaining gangster and the intensity and ignorance of Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar) adds a diverting edge to the otherwise morbid matter of this film.
Then there is Alpha (Vipin Sharma), the keeper of the local temple Ardhanarishvara. This temple acts as a sanctuary for the hijra community, a group of gender non-conforming people who are in hiding due to the violence and persecution they face. Alpha is a mentor to Kid, urging him to move forward, as well as recontextualising his individual experience within the tapestry of complicity and corruption.
The cinematography and colouring are stylish and mesmerising. Fight sequences are captured with such intricacy and intensity, that it is as if the audience is taking every punch and kick alongside the protagonist. The psychedelic colours of suave hotels and seedy clubs juxtapose the ashen and brown villages and slums.
The film pushes at the limits of the action thriller genre, using its tale of vengeance as political commentary. Though I would not say it falls completely in this genre, Monkey Man contains a few traits of ‘eat the rich’ films that we have been seeing recently. This one is decentralised from a Western perspective. Patel explores ideas of marginalisation and persecution due to the violence caused by the extremes of Hindu nationalism. The commentary is neither weighty to the narrative, nor does it feel unnecessary. This balance propels the plot forward with a grounded, gritty momentum.
As someone of South Asian heritage, this film has been everything I have yearned for and more. Patel has punched through decades of stereotypes, and created a film that not only allows the South Asian diaspora to see themselves represented on the big screen, but also criticises the systems that hold their motherlands hostage.
Monkey Man is the kind of film that inspires artists. It puts forward compelling characters and grounds them in a complex and engaging narrative. Patel has achieved something that I am truly in awe of.
