Monkey Man: Dev Patel doing John Wick in Bombay…
… crossed with the Delhi Kaala Bandar / black monkey hysteria, with a glancing nod to Mexican lucha libre
Contrasts Hanuman as “the white monkey” with Kaala Bandar
Hanuman burning Lanka
The “Rang De” mujra song × Kathakali-ish demon masks
Malignant godman is an eternal Indian trope, alludes to Sacred Games (Vipin Sharma?)
Crooked cop, probably: a Bombay classic (Sikandar Kher)
Love interest (Sobhita Dhulipala)
Corrupt party has BJP colors; they may evade censors because saffron is a Hindu trope
Class war like The White Tiger with a shot of the Mumbai metro over slums
Sharlto Copley worked with Dev in robot movie Chappie, probably why he was cast. But Dev’s the audience bridge, not the white guy. He’s accessible, Common for desis.
“Mundeya To Bachke” is basic, way overdone at this point. Plenty of bhangra and Bolly bangers to choose from.
Jordan ‘Peele… was so taken with Patel’s vision that he believed it deserved a theatrical release…
Patel plays Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club… wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash…
sets out on a quest for vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor [THR]
Trailer: