MONKEY MAN (18)
★★★☆☆
Dev Patel’s directorial debut, revenge drama Monkey Man, is an ambitious undertaking.
The actor also stars as nameless orphan Kid who ekes out a meagre living in an underground fight club run by promoter Tiger (Sharlto Copley).
Big money changes hands on the outcome of bone-crunching bouts and the Kid is the resident patsy.
He regularly dresses in a gorilla mask to take beatings from the crowd’s reigning champion, King Kobra (Brahim Chab).
The cheap, blood-spattered disguise conceals Kid’s deep-rooted grief about the murder of his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte) during a police raid orchestrated by sadistic chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher).
Her senseless death was part of a heavy-handed land-clearing operation on behalf of cult leader Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande), whose influence will decide forthcoming political elections during Diwali.
Kid vows revenge and worms his way into a high-end brothel run by Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), which is frequented by police and dignitaries.
Getting close to Rana Singh comes at a terrible price and Kid is rescued from certain death by the hijra, an ostracised intersex and transgender community, whose temple provides the perfect training ground to rebuild Kid’s strength.
“You should have died from your injuries. The gods must have a greater purpose for you,” encourages hijra leader Alpha (Vipin Sharma). Monkey Man offers brief respites from the close-up savagery. Recuperation with the hijra provides a satisfying calm before the storm then the script strains credibility by imagining these guardian angels as a finely calibrated troupe of assassins. Patel is in almost every scene and possesses seemingly inexhaustible energy. However, the film lacks his stamina.
In cinemas now