Monica O My Darling is a neo-noir crime-thriller comedy that is quite atypical of other Hindi movies of the crime thriller genre. Directed by Vasan Bala, who is best known for Mard Ko Dard Nhi Hota (2018), 83 (2021), and Psycho Raman (2016), etc.
Plot
Jayant Arkhedkar (Rajkummar Rao), is a robotics expert from a small town. He is young and overly ambitious. He aims to rule the Unicorn group where he works. Things go smoothly for him as he was promoted, and he is also dating the owner’s daughter and even hoped that he could soon marry her.
But the smooth road gets coarse as he gets into a fling with the company’s secretary Monica Machado (Huma Qureshi). Monica gets pregnant and starts to blackmail Jayant.
She is not like your girl next door. She is a cunning woman with a lot of prey including Jayant, Nishikant, and the company’s account team member Arvind (Bagavathi Perumal). The three men plot a plan for Monica’s murder but get deep down a rabbit hole.
What follows next and how ACP Naidu (Radhika Apte) completes her investigation, forms the crux of the film.
About Monica, O My Darling
Monica, O My Darling has been directed by Vasan Bala, written by Yogesh Chandekar, and has been produced by Sarita Patil, Sanjay Routray, and Vishal Bajaj. And the music director is Achint Thakkar.
The comedy crime thriller stars, Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Sikander Kher, Bagavathi Perumal, Sukant Goel, and Zayn Marie Khan.
Review
Monica, O My Darling is a comical yet twisted tale of lust, blackmail, murder, and greed. It has gore scenes of murders which are lightened by dark jokes. It belongs to the genre of neo-noir crime comedy-thriller film that doubles up as a murder mystery.
Monica, O My Darling is an adaptation of the Japanese novel Burutasu No Shinzou (Heart of Brutus) by Keigo Higashino. Higanisho is a renowned author of mystery novels, the most famous being The Devotion of The Suspect X. His works are famously notorious for unpredictability and sharp twists.
In this crime thriller, the murderers are known already. They are not hidden from the audience. The story progresses while keeping the murderers in mind, making the film quite captivating.
The film starts on a shocking note, with the song, ‘Yeh Ek Zindagi’ setting the mood. The makers have paid tribute to retro Bollywood music. Music director, Achint Thakkar who had earlier given music for Scam 1992 and Rocket Boys has done the right job, blending retro with contemporary.
The best part of Monica, O My Darling, is that the characters are not one-dimensional. The murder plan in the film gives a déjà vu of Johnny Gaddaar (2007). Yogesh Chandekar’s screenplay did justice to the plot. Despite the gore and murder in the script, the writer keeps the mood light and cleverly added humor in ample doses. The first half of the film had a very strong build-up in the story, which met with lots of twists in the second half.
A lot is going on in this 2-hour 10 minutes long film. The pace of the film was initially good, but towards the end, it got racy and predictable. There are a lot of backstories and a lot of details that on some points, had been shown hastily. But the last scene of this film has a satisfying open-ending.
The cast did a fascinating job. As ACP Naidu, it was Radhika Apte’s first character in a comic role. Although there was not much screen space, Apte nailed the role of the comical corrupt officer. Huma Qureshi looked stunning and sensual. Her role as Monica was spot-on. And Rajkumar Rao is Rajkumar Rao- a fine actor.
Overall, Monica, O My Darling is a fun, decent watch.
Where to watch Monica, O My Darling (2022)
