After debuting at Cannes with his first feature film ‘The Street Vendors’ and Toronto with his second ‘The Man Who Feels No Pain’, director Vasan Bala’s third film ‘Monica, O My Darling’ is one of the headlines of the year for Netflix India.
The film was produced by Matchbox Shots (“Andhadhun”) for Netflix.
Prior to ‘Monica, O My Darling’, Bala directed episodes of the Netflix series ‘Ray’ and was one of the writers of the cricket epic ’83’. “Andhadhun” writer Yogesh Chandekar filmed “Monica, O My Darling” from the novel “Burutasu No Shinzou” (“The Heart of Brutus”) by Higashino Keigo, whose film The Devotion of Suspect X also received a Netflix adaptation by Sujoy Ghosh (“Kahani”).
The new noir film follows a brilliant robotics expert (Rajkumar Rao, “White Tiger”), who is embroiled in a series of murders during an affair with his classmate, Monica (Homa Qureshi, “Army of the Dead”). Radhika Apte (“Raat Akeli Hai”) plays the role of a police officer in charge of investigating the case.
“The kind we’re dealing with, the perfect character that Raj plays in this movie, could be Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart or Rajkumar Rao – once the bullshit gets to the ceiling, one has to do whatever one has to do to survive.”
Survival is a constant theme for all the characters in the movie, and it’s full of twists and turns. “To survive across the human race, across races, anyone in his or her position will do whatever it takes. And then, because you’re constantly on a rollercoaster, you just have to keep thinking and after a point you stop thinking, because you never know what it is. Coming your way.” “The only thing is that you can continue to dodge and hope and pray to be alive. So, the fun is in that spontaneity.”
The title is a pop culture reference to the iconic tag line from the cabaret song “Bia To Up To Aja” in The Caravan (1971), one of Bollywood’s greatest hits of all time. Like the murderous woman portrayed in that song, or indeed, in many noir films, Monica in this film aims to be a survivor.
“We are very cruel with women who use their looks or their bodies to get what they want. In this case, there is no judgment of value,” Qureshi said of her character. “No one is more holy than you – everyone uses what they have to get what they want, because everyone They want the best for themselves. She’s a desirable woman, but she doesn’t wear that on her sleeve. It’s not something you get much use for.”
Rao said of his character, “I wanted to keep him very loyal — you might attract him, you might feel bad about him, you might also hate him. But that’s what we wanted from the character, we wanted people to really invest in these characters and be involved in this world and make it believable. So, It was all about making the story so believable. It’s so flowery. It’s so cool, so quirky. But for me, just to make it human, this can happen to anyone overnight.”
Apte says she was “very nervous” when she signed on to the movie because her police character is all she is. “I was also a little nervous because it was — I wouldn’t necessarily say comedy — but there was just something about it that was supposed to be comical and funny and weird,” Abbey said. “It was so much fun for me because I’m someone who might feel guilty even if it rains and it’s not my fault. But this character has absolutely no regrets, ever for anything you do – to enjoy it and remain at peace.”
Next up on Apte is the spy thriller ‘Mrs. Undercover. Qureshi has a biopic of food writer Tarla Dalal and the thriller Pooja Meri Jan’ while Rao has the social drama ‘Bhid’, the Netflix retro ’90s series ‘Guns & Gulabs’ and a sports movie ‘Mr. . And Mrs. Mahi, ‘Line up.
“Monica, O My Darling” is now broadcasting.
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