Why Dev scares Indian censors…

Pitobash and Dev Patel in the action film Monkey Man

Jai Shri Ram," as a refrain/salutation shows up in Monkey Man (2024), written, directed and enacted by movie-star of Indian origin, Dev Patel. Only, that dialogue comes from Lord Hanuman in a puppet show, depicting Ramayan.

The movie itself opens with Lord Hanuman, or bal/child Hanuman, to be precise. Wherein li'l Hanuman gets supremely hungry.

To satiate this hunger, he aims for a "raseela"/ripe mango, turning to the sky. This luminous mango, instead, is the burning sun, which he gobbles up.

Of course, Hanuman is a child. He must still be castigated for this dangerous transgression. The punishment to Lord Hanuman by the Gods is that he's henceforth stripped of all his powers. Or at least the self-awareness of them.

How 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 up.

He's a ring-fighter - with mask of a monkey on his face. It's hard to fathom this Indian street-style sport, that's a cross between akhara-type wresting and MMA. Roughly, think of it as the caged fight scenes in the Sunny Deol starrer, Ghatak (1996).

The emcee in the fighting ring is a white guy, who's good with Hindi expletives. The gora says there are no Hindus, Muslims, Christians… Everybody worships the "Indian rupee"!

It's hard to imagine this as authentically Bombay, with hand-painted Bollywood posters and Bappi Lahiri's 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 lay/law of the land, in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which made the Brit actor, a global star.

Over a decade and half since, as debutant director, Monkey Man seems Patel's personal tribute to Slumdog, if not a return gift. He literally feeds a dog in a slum-type exterior of the poshest nightclub in this pic.

What struck us about Slumdog, though - a testament to filmmaker Danny Boyle's striking vision - were the gritty visuals by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle.

Many Indians had dismissed it as poverty porn then. It's not like Boyle or Dod Mantle had erected sets. They effectively captured what they
saw of Bombay.

The 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 quick-cuts and extreme close-ups.

It wouldn't matter either to those the movie is primarily intended for - mainly mainstream western audiences that I watched Monkey Man at a multiplex in downtown Manhattan with.

The auto-rickshaw chase sequence is just as exhilarating as it gets. The point of the pic - seamlessly juxtaposing images of extreme poverty, with incredible wealth, that typifies Bombay - works 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 right-hand man.

If anything, Sobhita Dhulipala in a short role, as Sita, is the ‘Latika' 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 ‘John Wick' to give it an Oscar-like cred - like, say, Ramin Bahrani's The White Tiger (2021)?

Patel attempts this through metaphors and symbolisms that, frankly, lovers of the freakoid, fast-paced thrillers will hardly notice, let alone care for.

Such 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 by.

There is reference to the Vedas for a tree planted by Lord Shiva. At the roots of which rest "toxins that a weakened man can benefit from".

A ‘godman', who mixes religion to peddle politics occupies the wider backdrop of Monkey Man. This Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande; ‘Mac Sir') foists upon the nation a leader to do the bidding for corporates eyeing lands to dispossess the poor for mining profits.

The leader climbs up electoral polls, owing to violence against minorities. The film's climax is set in a fund-raiser with that leader following Baba Shakti's footsteps.

Now, any of what's mentioned above could've alerted the Indian film censors to summarily stall the theatrical release of Patel's directorial debut, instead of even ordering cold cuts.

They're evidently extra-cautious with popular entertainment. Lest it upset anyone perennially looking to take offence for any kinda content with an iota of religious/political undertone.

I'm 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 part.

I don't know if Indian censors will eventually pass the pic - hence, this selective description, for your vicarious pleasure/awareness. I think they should.

Whether audiences wholly enjoy it or not - Monkey Man is simply a grim, resolute swashbuckler; more John Wick than Slumdog; trippy AF. That's the only way to view it.

Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14

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