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Monica, O My Darling

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Monica, O My Darling
Official release poster
Directed byVasan Bala
Screenplay byYogesh Chandekar
Story byKeigo Higashino
Based onBurutasu No Shinzou [ja]
by Keigo Higashino
Produced bySarita Patil
Sanjay Routray
Dikssha Jyote Routray
Vishal Bajaj
Kewal Garg
Anish Vikramaditya
Starring
CinematographySwapnil S. Sonawane
Edited byAtanu Mukherjee
Music byAchint Thakkar
Mikey McCleary
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • 11 November 2022 (2022-11-11)
Running time
129 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi

Monica, O My Darling[2] is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir dark comedy crime thriller film directed by Vasan Bala.[3] The film stars Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte.[4][5] It is based on the 1989 Japanese detective novel Burutasu No Shinzou [ja] (transl. Heart of Brutus) by Keigo Higashino.[6] The film's title is taken from the 1971 film Caravan's song "Piya Tu Ab To Aja".[7][8] It released on 11 November 2022 on Netflix.[9]

Upon release, Monica, O My Darling received positive reviews from critics and became the most-viewed Indian film on Netflix.[10]

At the 2023 Filmfare OTT Awards, Monica, O My Darling received 9 nominations, including Best Web Original Film, Best Director in a Web Original Film (Bala), Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Rao), Best Actress in a Web Original Film (Qureshi) and Best Supporting Actress in a Web Original Film (Apte), and won 4 awards, including Best Web Original Film and Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Critics (Rao).

Plot

During a night shift at the Unicorn factory, Dev Prakash informs his friend Gaurav that he has proposed marriage to Shalu which she has accepted. Soon after, the company's robot attacks and kills Dev. The case is closed as an accident, while safety officer Faridi Baig is fired from the company.

Six months later, at the Unicorn's 50th anniversary, Jayant Arkhedkar is promoted to the board of directors for the company. He is also engaged to the daughter of the CEO Satyanarayan Adhikari, Nikki Adhikari. After the ceremony, he is shown to be having an affair with the company's secretary, Monica Machado. Monica reveals to Jayant that she is pregnant with his child and tries to blackmail him. Later, Jayant receives a letter with photos of him and Monica, asking him to visit a hotel. In the hotel, he meets up with Arvind Manivannan, the CFO at Unicorn, and Nishikant Adhikari, the son of Satyanarayan and managing director of the company, both of whom also claim to have been blackmailed by Monica in the same way. All three of them devise a plan to murder Monica, with Nishikant killing her, Jayant transporting the body, and Arvind disposing of the body. Nishikant has them sign a contract as a failsafe in case Arvind and Jayant back out of the plan at the last moment. The plan appears to be on track until Arvind and Jayant encounter a leopard while trying to dump the body in the jungle, and have to flee.

The next day, Arvind and Jayant are shocked to see that Monica is still alive. Wildlife photographers discover a body disposed of in the wild, which turns out to be Nishikant. ACP Naidu of the police begins to investigate the death at Unicorn office, while both Arvind and Jayant suspect that Monica is the one who killed Nishikant. Arvind later receives a parcel at his home containing a venomous snake, which ends up killing him. Jayant receives a similar parcel but manages to escape, and receives a text with a photo of their contract. Jayant follows the text instructions and goes to the roof to retrieve the contract but he is pushed from behind by Gaurav (Jayant's friend and to-be brother-in-law). He survives and manages to get the contract, only to discover that it is a photocopy. Jayant visits Monica's house where he tries to kill her, but his conscience stops him. Monica tells him that she didn't kill Nishikant or Arvind and seems to have figured out who the murderer is. Before she can tell Jayant, she dies from snake venom that has been mixed into her wine.

Later, Jayant discovers that the internal investigation into Dev's death blamed Jayant's faulty robot technology, but Satyanarayan covered it up and had Faridi fired instead. When Jayant meets Faridi to apologize, Faridi insists that Dev wasn't killed by accident, but was rather murdered by a manual override of the robot's controls. Jayant and Gaurav together go to the Unicorn factory to check the manual access logs of the robot that killed Dev. Jayant discovers that it was Gaurav who killed Dev, as he was in love with Jayant's sister, Shalu. Gaurav attacks Jayant with the same robot. During the fight, Gaurav confesses to killing Nishikant and Arvind, but not Monica. Nishikant saw Dev's murder by Gaurav and started using Gaurav as his minion. But when Nishikant asked Gaurav to murder Monica or he would expose him to Shalu, he snapped and murdered Nishi. And subsequently, set out to clean house including killing Jayant. After some struggle, Jayant is finally able to take control of the robot with his watch and kills Gaurav in self-defense. Later, Naidu announces at a press conference that Monica's killer was Tamang Rana, the father of her unborn child, who has committed suicide due to the guilt he felt for Monica's murder.

During the prayer ceremony for Monica, Naidu reveals to Jayant that the actual father of Monica's child was Satyanarayan. He had Tamang poison Monica's wine after she started blackmailing Satyanarayan, and then had Naidu murder Tamang to silence him. Jayant later goes to Gaurav's house to retrieve the original contract, but as soon as he discovers the paper and burns it, he is surrounded by the snakes which Gaurav had stolen, and the screen turns to black leaving his fate unknown.

Cast

Soundtrack

Main article: Monica, O My Darling (soundtrack)

The first song in this film is titled "Yeh Ek Zindagi" sung by Anupama Chakraborty Shrivastava, composed by Achint Thakkar and Mikey McCleary and lyrics by Varun Grover.[13][14] Released on 1 November 2022.[15]

The album also features songs like "Suno Janejaan", "Farsh Pe Khade", "Hills Of Malabar" and "I Love You So Much" which are sung by Saud Khan, Sagnik Sen, Vivienne Pocha & Sarita Vaz respectively.

Production

Production began in July 2021.[16][17]

Release

The film released on 11 November 2022 on Netflix.[18]

Reception

Monica, O My Darling received positive reviews from critics who praised the direction, writing, cast performances (particularly Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte), cinematography, humour, background score, and homages to the vintage crime films in Hindi cinema. However, some critics were critical of the film's latter half.

"After a rigorous build up in the first half, the film nosedives after the interval with murders without any logic happening at a speed that's difficult to fathom."
— Monika Rawal Kukreja in The Hindustan Times[19]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 16 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10.[20]

Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "The frames of the film are beautiful. It will make you just pause and watch them again and again. And the background music heightens the impact that the narrative has. So long after the film has ended, it will still remain in your hearts".[21] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost praised the acting and music of the film but was critical of the community representation, saying "It is troubling though that thinking folk casually wrote a Monica Machado into this script as an office staffer doubling up as a cabaret dancer and also sleeping with everyone in sight, a resurrection of the pre-1990s Hindi film portrayal of Christian women, without recognising the harm that has been done to India's Christian minority by this old stereotype."[22] The Indian Express gave the film a positive response and declared "Relax, Bollywood is doing just fine; you're not looking in the right places".[23] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 4 stars out of 5 and called it "An intriguing, enthralling work that deftly turns pulp into a precious cinematic pearl. In short, it is a not-to-be-missed marvel".[24] Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint rated the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "In summary, Monica O My Darling is an intriguing story set in a delicious pulpy universe with a great cast. With a tighter edit and a more concise story, the film would've been almost impossible to put down (but even as it stands, it's a fun watch)".[25]

Accolades

Year Award ceremony Category Nominee / work Result Ref.
2023 Filmfare OTT Awards Best Web Original Film Monica O My Darling Nominated [26]
Best Web Original Film (Critics) Won
Best Director in a Web Original Film Vasan Bala Nominated
Best Actor in a Web Original Film Rajkummar Rao Nominated
Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Critics) Won
Best Actress in a Web Original Film Huma Qureshi Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Web Original Film Radhika Apte Nominated
Best Story (Web Original Film) Yogesh Chandekar Nominated
Best Background Music (Web Original Film) Achint Thakkar Won
Best Cinematographer (Web Original Film) Swapnil Sonawane Won
Best Sound Design (Web Original Film) Kunal Sharma Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Monica, O My Darling". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Monica, O My Darling | Comedy x Crime x Drama | Only on Netflix". About Netflix. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Netflix sets Nov 11 premiere for Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte's Monica O My Darling". The Indian Express. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte to star in Vasan Bala-directorial 'Monica, O My Darling'". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Monica, O My Darling first look: Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte, Huma Qureshi star in Netflix project". The Indian Express. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  6. ^ "'Monica, O My Darling' movie review: Vasan Bala's notorious noir is intoxicating". The Hindu. 11 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Monica, O My Darling movie review: A smart, sparkling whodunnit with a zingy soundtrack". CNBC Tv18. 11 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Vasan Bala's Monica O My Darling is a whodunnit and much more". The Telegraph. 11 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Monica, O My Darling starring Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte to release on Netflix on November 11, 2022". Bollywood Hungama. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Monica, O My Darling tops Netflix chart with question Who was Huma Qureshi's child's father?". TrueScoop. 14 November 2022. The film topped the Netflix chart and created buzz among the fans.
  11. ^ Free Press Journal (1 November 2022). "Radhika Apte on 'Monica, O My Darling': 'The movie was out of my comfort zone'". Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  12. ^ The Pioneer (7 July 2022). "Sikandar Kher excited about working with Vasan Bala in 'Monica, O My Darling'". Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  13. ^ Monica, O My Darling (Music from the Netflix Film), 6 November 2022, retrieved 14 November 2022
  14. ^ वरुण 🇮🇳 [@varungrover] (12 November 2022). "@maaynaque Thanks. Though i didn't write any English lyrics. Only the Hindi songs are by me" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Yeh Ek Zindagi | Monica, O My Darling | Huma Qureshi, Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte | Achint. Sony Music India. 1 November 2022. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ "Monica, O My Darling is now filming, featuring Rajkummar Rao and Huma Qureshi- Excited?". PINKVILLA. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  17. ^ Keshri, Shweta (28 July 2021). "Netflix shares first look of Radhika Apte, Huma, Rajkummar from Monica, O My Darling". India Today. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Netflix to premiere Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte's 'Monica, O My Darling' on Nov 11". The New Indian Express. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  19. ^ Kukreja, Monika Rawal (12 November 2022). "Monica O My Darling movie review: This Rajkummar Rao film tries too hard to impress". The Hindustan Times.
  20. ^ "Monica O My Darling". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Monica O My Darling Movie Review: Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte, Huma Qureshi serve a delicious murder mystery". India Today. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Monica, O My Darling movie review: Murder mystery version of a comedy of errors". Firstpost. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Monica, O My Darling: Relax, Bollywood is doing just fine; you're not looking in the right places". The Indian Express. 12 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  24. ^ "Monica, O My Darling Review: Wildly Entertaining Neo-Noir Comic Thriller". NDTV.com. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  25. ^ Mishra, Pratikshya (14 November 2022). "Podcast: Do I Like Monica O My Darling?". TheQuint. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Nominations for the Filmfare OTT Awards 2023: Full List Out | Femina.in". www.femina.in. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
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