Monica O My Darling Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi's Twisty Comic-Thriller is Smart, Pulpy and Fun! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Monica O My Darling Movie Review: The opening credits of Vasan Bala's Monica O My Darling thanks director Sriram Raghavan. This is expected, as the black comic thriller has some heavy influences from Raghavan's cult debut film, Johnny Gaddar, thematically. In fact, the movie even makes a fleeting appearance in one of the scenes in the Netflix film. Like with the Sriram Raghavan film, Monica O My Darling is about an anti-hero, an ordinary man who is blinded by ambitions and who commits a crime to serve his own purpose, only to realise that he has taken his first step into a quagmire of downfall that won't let him out. Monica O My Darling Song Ek Zindagi: Huma Qureshi and Rajkummar Rao Groove to '80s Vibes in this Fun Track Revealed at TUDUM 2022.

So our anti-hero here is Jayant Arkedkar (Rajkummar Rao), an IIT-ian from Angola who is supposed to go through the best phase of his life and career. His work in robotics has made him the apple of his employer's eye, who promotes him to Board of Directors over his arrogant son Nishikant (Sikander Kher). What's more, Jayant is also engaged to his employer's vain daughter Nikki (Anushka Ranjan Kapoor), while his younger sister Shalu (Zayn Marie Khan) is also working in the same company.

In short, Jayant's story is a rags-to-riches one that he often reminds to those who listens to him, or used by privileged pricks like Nishikant to remind him of his 'aukaat'. But it is his ill-advised secret affair with company's executive secretary Monica (Huma Qureshi) that is threatening to spell doom on his aspirations.

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Soon enough, Jayant find himself covering up a murder that also involves Nishikant and Arvind (Bagavathi Perumal aka Bucks), their company's cowardly accountant. But then more and more bodies turn up, the supposed dead comes back alive and there is a wise-cracking ACP Naidu (Radhika Apte), who is determined to pin the murders on Jayant.

Monica O My Darling begins with a murder that involves a robotic arm twisting a victim's neck and killing him. Setting the tone immediately right there, the movie then goes on to introduce most of the principal players in the next sequence that shows Jayant at the peak point of his career, which leads to a immensely peppy "Yeh Ek Zindagi", and then after we see the cracks beneath Jayant's polished exterior. From thereon, Vasan Bala and his writer Yogesh Chandekar bring upon one delicious black comic twist after another, as Jayant find himself being confronted by a pile of mysteries that he could not make heads nor tails of.

As mentioned before, Monica O My Darling does remind you of Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gaddaar and even AndhaDhun, but I would also like to point out another film here - the late Irrfan Khan's underrated black comic thriller Blackmail. All these films place flawed characters in a web of deceit and murder that refuse to unspool itself, while seeking humour in unexpected places. For most of its part, I was quite enjoying the twists Vasan Bala was trying to throw at me, right from the opening act. Even the revelation of Jayant's infidelity is revealed in a surprising manner, and that tradition continues ahead nearly throughout the film.

And like with his breakout film, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (which is slyly hinted to be in the same universe as this) and also his segment in Ray, Bala's love for cinema and meta humour also seeps their way through the narrative. There is a scene where a potential murder victim has to turn away from a hotel named 'Bates Motel', thereby cleverly hinting at her fate at that moment. Also, maybe it is my overactive mind, but did Vasan Bala take inspiration from Aitraaz in a scene where, after a well-executed struggle scene, Jayant stop himself from crossing the line after seeing his own reflection? OTT Releases of the Week: Rajkummar Rao’s Monica O My Darling, Abhishek Bachchan’s Breathe into the Shadows Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio on Netflix & More.

Monica O My Darling also delves into themes of social divide, as well as sexism and nepotism in the corporate sector and its tendencies to brush crucial issues under the rug, instead of bothering to tackle them headon. But it does so without overpowering the thriller aspect of the film, while turning its protagonist's life into a dangerous game of snakes and ladders, quite literally at that.

It also definitely helps that some of the main characters, be it Rao's Jayant, or Qureshi's Monica, and even Apte's Naidu are quite arresting. This also applies to Kher's Nishikant and Bucks' Arvind. Sikandar Kher is quite scene-stealing in nearly every sequence and Qureshi pulls off the shrewd femme fatale quite well. Rajkummar Rao, by now, is a pro at handling characters of grey shades.

Which is also why I felt Monica O My Darling saw a dip when a couple of crucial characters get killed off and when the movie picks up the loose threads to tie them up in a predictable manner. The track involving Jayant's psychopathic colleague (Sukant Goel) doesn't hold the same amount of interest as the other plotlines, even though it weaves its way into the main track and finds its conclusion there. While there are still twists and revelations in the third act, they didn't leave me with the sense of reeling shock like the movie's other influences - Johnny Gaddaar and AndhaDhun - managed to pull off. It isn't that the third act of Monica O My Darling is downright disappointing, but compared to the peaking greats the previous two acts have been, the final act pales somewhat in comparison.

Final Thoughts

Monica O My Darling is definitely a movie you need to check out if you love your thrillers smart and pulpy with dollops of black humour, not to mention, incredible performances. Monica O My Darling is streaming on Netflix.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 11, 2022 12:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).