Monica, O My Darling reviews

2022 - 11 - 12

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Image courtesy of "Hindustan Times"

Monica O My Darling review: Tries too hard to impress (Hindustan Times)

Monica O My Darling review: Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, Radhika Apte's performances aren't enough to save this Vasan Bala thriller. | Bollywood.

And I don't see a point in making a film so predictable that the number of scenes and twists that you can predict actually make you want to give yourself a pat on your back. With Monica O My Darling, slightly better direction in terms of where the story is headed and how it was narrated could have helped its case. Comfortable in her skin, she absorbs the character to the T. Dialogues that Bala has co-written with Chandekar are quirky, peppered with comic tone, perhaps the high point of the film that can qualify as a dark comedy. Average because the moment it was revealed at the film's teaser launch that Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan was to helm the film but Bala took over after five years, one expected a similar experience. Or at least that's what you'd like to believe until you actually sit through and watch this 2-hour-10-minutes long film and realise that it's so Bollywoodised that you just can't get over the plot twists and predictability of events, which make this Vasan Bala directorial a fun yet average watch.

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Image courtesy of "NDTV"

Monica, O My Darling Review: Wildly Entertaining Neo-Noir Comic ... (NDTV)

Rajkummar Rao is never off the boil. Huma Qureshi fleshes out Monica in all her splendour. Radhika Apte takes to the role of a chatty policewoman.

Radhika Apte takes to the role of a chatty policewoman who is always a step ahead of the rest like a fish to water. This gentleman from the fictional village of Angola (it certainly isn't the central African country) is appointed to the board of directors and given a share in the company's profits. Cinephilia is the binding agent in Monica, O My Darling. How, six months on, they discover the many layers of truth, falsehood and subterfuge that begin to unravel as the company is rocked by a series of murders. Is this film as good as Ek Hasina Thi and Johnny Gaddar, the first two entries in the oeuvre of Sriram Raghavan, a writer-director to whom Vasan Bala acknowledges a debt upfront? Monica, O My Darling begins with a prelude in which a murder is committed by a jealous lover (Susant Goel) who takes manual control of a robot in Unicorn's tech lab and eliminates a co-worker who reveals his desire to marry Shalu. Even when it is indicated who might be responsible for the rising body count, the guessing game and the surprises do not stop. Branded a pretender and a parasite by a rival within the company, he is drawn into a fiendish conspiracy that can only spell trouble. It is delightfully tricksy, transfixing concoction that probes the goings-on in a Pune-based company, a veritable viper's pit where nothing is what it seems. Huma Qureshi is Monica Machado, the top honcho's secretary, a femme fatale who employs her guiles to hold her ground on a slippery slope. Full of knowing winks thrown the audience's way, Netflix's Monica, O My Darling, is a wildly entertaining film packed with twists and turns that keep on giving until the final fadeout. He fears a deadly slip between the cup and the lip.

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Image courtesy of "SheThePeople"

Monica, O My Darling Review: Huma Quereshi, Radhika Apte Serve ... (SheThePeople)

In Netflix's Monica, O My Darling, filmmaker Vasan Bala has a fabulous cast coupe for all manner of mischief and some cutting-edge technology to ooze up a ...

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