'Monica O My Darling' movie review: Worth the Monica OD!

Monica O My DarlingOn NetflixDir Vasan BalaCast Rajkummar Rao Huma QureshiRating 355Yup therersquos a lsquofilmbuffrsquo film And this is itmdasha movie thatrsquos too much about movies Meaning you watch parallelly looking out for references homages to other pix And which also makes such flicks worth a rewatchMaybe you wanna add to its WikipediaIMDb list as you go namespotting lsquoNasir Hussainrsquo on the pickup tempotruck lsquomy cousin Vinnyrsquo on a phone call Bates Motel from Psycho to checkin tomdashCaptain Zatack from Hum being referred to somewhere or a riff from the Satya soundtrack for a moment in the background scoreelsewhereSpeaking of which how about blasting the RD Burman song Monica O My Darling that the movie is titled after And that plays as a proper lsquoitem songrsquo first Before wersquore ODrsquoing on it in the background music eventually That is when playful original compositions with madcap lyrics Varun Grover arenrsquot on the screen as wellAnd yet in terms of genre this would be whatrsquos called lsquonoirrsquomdashas is the perfume brand in this pic Notoriously Noir Extreme Ralph Laurenrsquos That said noir is also the other fourletter word used so liberally that itrsquos effectively lost all meaningAlso Read Kareena Kapoor Khan shares a selfie on her Instagram story with her mainsSuffice it to suggest by noir one means that in terms of stylised partsroles this film is fairly selfcontainedmdashthe quasicrafted world revolves around few peeps None of them trustable to begin withAnd indeed wersquore dealing with a life of crime or multiple crimes actuallymdashseries of murders one after another within the same robotics company The story as per credits is based on Japanese mysterywriter Keigo Higashinorsquos book Barutasu no ShinzouStill noir itself means dark no That on the face of it this film is anything but There is a cattymischievous overtone throughout To be sure it is Tarantino post Pulp Fiction in particular who popularised the use of bright colours even more colourful language songs and popculture references to spice up the serious lsquonoirrsquo as it wereTo compare I found no Tarantinolike pornography of violence in this movie at all The most elaborate action sequence is shot from a distance with a glass window serving as a frame within the frameThis is in sharp contrast to director Vasan Balarsquos last feature and first releasemdashthe sufficiently cultgrade Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota 2018 MKDNH chiefly immortalised by actor Gulshan Devaiahrsquos doublerole Jimmy Karate Manimdashthat was similarly an ode to the superhero comic genre insteadThis moviersquos inherent joyousness is altogether sustained by zany characters that might seem like caricaturesmdashwith no one really ever going obviously overthetop at any moment Starting with the maneating secretary apparently playing the whole officemdashthatrsquos Huma Qureshi totally killing it in amp as MonicaOpposite her the smart smalltown hustler moving up the corporate laddermdasha perfect blend of confidentcool from the exterior but someone whose pants perennially on firemdashRajkummar Rao plays this in a way that only he can pull off with such easeAlso Read Kareena Kapoor Khan shares a selfie on her Instagram story with her mainsBut no this pic is so much more fun for all the specimens exiting entering the framemdashadorably crazy cop Radhika Apte the maalikrsquos loserish heir full of swag Sikander Kher his sister Akansha Ranjan the familyman accountant Bagavathi Perumalhellip How much more fun itrsquod be to watch them vibe like this on the bigscreen before a packed crowdMonica O My Darling is a Netflix original Which for a filmmaker is really a tradeoff between a proper simultaneous global drop across 190 countries or a picture that may not even secure a desi theatrical release let alone a wide oneSuch as Balarsquos debut Peddlers 2012mdashwe should be able to catch it on an OTT now From Netlfix POV this is decidedly their best Indian film in the crimeensemble space since Anurag Basursquos absolute crackerjack Ludo 2020Director Sriram Raghavan Johnny Gaddaar Ek Hasina Thi is separatelyspecially thanked in this moviersquos opening credit That for lookfeel inspiration makes sense Also films of this genre have such an incredible setup that inevitably no payoff in the end matches it Raghavan only totally aced both withAndhadhun 2018So you neednrsquot be hugely disappointed as the people plus plot in this pic peter off slightly towards the final few minutes Consider still how yousatthrough a murder mystery that actually involves plotters of a crime writing down their roles in a signed notemdashin case any of them backs out Where on earth is this piece of document justiciableLikewise pretty sure if you trace the steps backwards by way of backstories and main crimemdashunlikely yoursquoll find a wholly convincing motive plus beginning middle end for proper detectivefictionBut thatrsquos the thing with topclass surfacelevel scripting Yoursquore in the moment as an audiencemdashcompelled to think nothing in particular What matters most isnrsquot so much lsquowhat happens nextrsquo as lsquowow did not see that comingrsquo And you donrsquot know where this film is goingmdashabsolutely the best reason to get in on the ride right away

'Monica O My Darling' movie review: Worth the Monica OD!

Monica O My Darling
On: Netflix
Dir: Vasan Bala
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi
Rating: 3.5/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'Monica O My Darling' movie review: Worth the Monica OD!

'Monica O My Darling' movie review: Worth the Monica OD!

Monica O My DarlingOn: NetflixDir: Vasan BalaCast: Rajkummar Rao, Huma QureshiRating: 3.5/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Monica O My Darling
On: Netflix
Dir: Vasan Bala
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi
Rating: 3.5/5