Having watched Vasan Bala’s previous directorial venture, “Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota”, I decided to watch his next offering, “Monica, O My Darling” too.
I watched it on Netflix after a work day on Monday, and I have to say, this dark comedy did keep me entertained for the most part of its 2h9m runtime. Apparently, this film was the brainchild of Sriram Raghavan of “Andhadun” fame and boy does it show!
I would give MOMD 3.5 stars out of 5. I like to err on the side of caution, especially when judging someone’s work given that I less of a film critic and more of an audience member looking to be enthralled.
For film buffs, Bala’s Quentin Tarantino-esque sequences will add a layer to your appreciation of this film. Not just Tarantino, there are other such references sprinkled throughout the film. I would tell you more but I don’t want to spoil it for you. You will know what I mean when you watch the film.
Apart from tipping his hat to his favourite filmmakers, Bala has also generously used Hindi songs with an old-timey feel to them, be it ‘Yeh Hai Zindagi’ or ‘Love You So Much I Want To Kill You’, to set the mood in many sequences. The “Shankar-Jaikishan” soundscape served as the inspiration. There are no romantic tracks in the film, only raunchy or murderous ones.
Anyhoo, the BGM was a big plus point for me. It’s almost as if you are in a different era. Let me give you another example. This movie opens with Huma Qureshi dressed in red and gyrating to a theme song that derives its lyrics from the name of the film.
She plays the role of Monica Machado, a secretary who uses her sex appeal to get ahead in the world. I wish Christian women and Qureshi weren’t typecast the way they have been. But the latter still manages to bring her best to the table.
Moving on, Rajkummar Rao never lets you down too, no matter what the tone of the film is (commercial, arthouse or a punchy combo of both). He is no different in this one as Jayant Arkhedkar, a small town boy from Angola working in a big robotics company in Pune named ‘Unicorn’.
Other than Qureshi and Rao, MOMD also stars Sikandar Kher and Radhika Apte. Kher plays Nishikant Adhikari, the gruff-mannered son of the founder of Unicorn, while Apte is a bubbly yet deadly cop from Pune Police, Vijayshanti Naidu.
It’s been a while since I saw Apte act and I was as impressed as ever. In my opinion, this is one of her wackiest performances to date and her (dark) comic timing was pitch perfect.
Coming back to the plot of MOMD, Jayant is engaged to marry the daughter of Unicorn’s founder and Nishikant’s sister, Nikki. He is also having an affair with Monica, who starts blackmailing him saying she is pregnant. Naturally, he has a lot to lose.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Monica is also blackmailing Nishikant and the head of the accounts department similarly. All three of them meet and end up hatching a plan to kill her, in order to put an end to their collective misery. What happens next forms the crux of the film.
Does Monica die? Does Nikki find out the truth about Jayant? Will Nishikant let him remain the CEO of the company? Will inspector Naidu get to the bottom of all this? Only one way to find out…