The challenge of Monkey Man
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. Dev Pa tel first pitched Monkey Man as “a revenge film about faith.”
“Faith can be such a beautiful, powerful thing. It can bring us together. At its best, it should make us fight for each other instead of fighting against each other,” says Patel, who made his feature directorial and screenwriting debut with the action thriller.
Monkey Man was inspired by the legend of Hanuman — a Hindu deity revered for his strength, loyalty and courage. Patel says that he saw a lot of parallels between Hindu mythology and the iconography of the superheroes that we know of today, such as Superman.
The film centres on a character named Kid — played by Patel — who makes a living working in an underground fight club and who later seeks to avenge his mother's death by infiltrating the elite class of a Mumbai-like city.
Throughout the film, we learn that his mission extends beyond his family. Patel's character becomes a symbol of freedom, seeking justice for those who have been oppressed and displaced in the name of power, money and religion.
“We're talking about religion and how religion can weaponize a large mass of people. And it can be used to a horrible extent to inflict violence. At the same time, it can be such a beautiful teacher,” Patel says. “The iconographies, the stories, the morals of right and wrong and courage, there's this duality to it ... You look at these old temple carvings in India and it was so much more free, open and radical in a way.”
The Oscar-nominated British actor grew up inspired by action heroes such as Bruce Lee.
“I was like, `I can use a genre that I love so dearly to talk about the caste system,”' he says. “It came from a place of rage too, against what was happening in India. And it happens everywhere, really.”
The film is “is pointedly political in its fictionalized echoes of modern, Modi-led India,” Associated Press film critic Jake Coyle wrote in his review, referencing its skewering of Hindu nationalism. (In India, where movies and politics are often intertwined, Monkey Man is still awaiting clearance by the country's censor board and doesn't yet have a confirmed release date.)
For Patel, the film, which features many Indian actors, speaks to issues of violence against women, the caste system and police brutality — all issues that he says that, while taking place in India in the film, are also universal.
“I've got a place here in L.A., and, you don't need to look far to look at cases of police brutality or, you know, every society faces a sort of caste system,” Patel says.
He describes the action film's commentary as a way to reach individuals who might be on the wrong side of history.
“How do I get them to watch this and feed them vegetables through a sort of entertaining Trojan horse so it doesn't feel like a lesson in politics or morals or whatever?” he asks.
In addition to the fraught topic, the directorial debut was beset with challenges during production, including the coronavirus pandemic-driven shutdown, limited crew members and a series of physical injuries.
“I broke my hand, I broke my foot, I tore my shoulder. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong in the making of this film did go wrong,” he told reporters at SXSW. “And it's really been a humbling experience.”
After surviving the gruelling production process, the film was dropped by Netflix.
“The studio that first acquired it, they didn't really know what they'd bargained for,” Patel says. “The actual film itself is a lot denser and it's saying a lot. Let's say that it's not your usual action scene on page 1, and then you continue fighting non-stop. It's trying to do a bit more.”
It was “just sitting there gathering dust,” Patel says. He was ready to let it go when Oscar-winning writer and director Jordan Peele — and Founder of Monkeypaw Productions — swooped in to save the day, purchasing the film through his production partnership with Universal Pictures.