Monica, O My Darling
Director: Vasan Bala
Year: 2022
Duration: 129 minutes
Music: Achint Thakkar
Rating: 7.0
A clever black neo-noir comedy that is based
on a novel by Japanese mystery writer Keigo Higashino titled in English,
Heart of Brutus. Higashino is considered the top crime writer in Japan today
and I have a couple of his books but have yet to read them. I am very curious
to see how close to the book this film is because it is very cinematic with
large dollops of ironic humor that would almost seem inappropriate in a mystery
novel. The title of this film is derived from a famous Bollywood song in
the 1971 film Caravan - which by the way is a terrific film. The song is
used in the film and one of the central characters is named Monica. It is
as these sorts of films tend to be, filled with twists and turns that eventually
lead the viewer into a dead-end. Nothing is entirely clear. Everyone is keeping
secrets. Almost too clever though as you can almost sense the scriptwriters
thinking, how about we do this. Again, I wonder how much was in the book
and how much created for the script. It would have made a solid old-fashioned
noir with a femme fatale, multiple murders and everyone suspect of something.
A Robotics firm is celebrating their success
and the promotion of Jayant (Rajkummar Rao) to the board. He is a young slick
engineer that the head of the company has been bringing along and has matched
him with his daughter Nikki (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor). But Jayant is banging
Monica (Huma Qureshi), a secretary in the firm and the dancer in the first
musical number. After having sex, she gives him the bad news - I am pregnant
- don't worry I won't tell anyone, but I will have expenses that I expect
you to cover. A lot of expenses. Then he gets a text from an unknown number
- I know you are having an affair with Monica - come to this hotel, this
room number. He goes and it is Nish (Sikander Kher), the son of the owner
and the brother of Nikki. But he doesn't want money. I am not here to blackmail
you. I am here to discuss something with you. And the toilet flushes and
out comes Arvind, another employee from the company. All three are being
told by Monica that they are the father of her unborn child. What do we do?
After some debate, they decide to kill her.
In three stages - kill, transport and dispose. Each of them will take one
of them to do - that way they can all have alibis for most of the night.
Nish gets the straw that says kill. He is fine with that. And of course,
nothing goes quite as planned and it turns into a mess where none of them
know what the hell is really going on - but one thing is sure - Monica is
alive and well - and someone is trying to kill them. And oh, they all signed
a paper that said they were in agreement to kill Monica and it has gone missing.
The police investigator played by Radhika Apte (Mrs. Undercover) is sort
of nuts and seems to know a lot more than she is letting on. I almost wish
this had been played more straight - keep the clever plotting but leave the
oddball comedy out. Some terrific musical choices pop in at the perfect moment.
