Monica O My Darling movie on Netflix stars Rajkummar Rao as Jayant Arkhedkar, Huma Qureshi as Monica Machado, Radhika Apte as ACP Naidu, Sikander Kher as Nishikant Adhikari, Bagavathi Perumal as Arvind Swamy, Zayn Marie Khan as Shalu, Sukant Goel as Gaurav More and Akansha Ranjan Kapoor as Niki Adhikari. Written by Yogesh Chandekar, the movie is directed by Vasan Bala. The runtime is of 130 minutes.
The cinematography is by Swapnil S. Sonawane and Sukesh Viswanath, and the editing is done by Atanu Mukherjee. The music is by Achint Thakkar, and the lyrics are penned by Varun Grover. The Netflix film is produced by Matchbox Shots.
The synopsis of the neo-noir crime comedy thriller reads, “A slick robotics expert joins a murderous plot after a passionate affair takes a sudden turn, but nothing — not even death — is what it seems to be.”
Monica O My Darling Movie Review Contains No Spoilers
In Monica O My Darling, 3 characters team up to execute a perfect murder. Every character has a big motive to commit the crime. However, they invite more trouble when things don’t go as planned. They do everything to cover up the truth, but complicate things with more lies and suspect every person. Who’s the killer, and what is their motive? We find out in the end.
As the title suggests, Huma Qureshi’s Monica is everyone’s darling. But she’s clever and wicked and knows how to get things done. Along with her, the story also majorly focuses on Rajkummar Rao’s Jayant Arkhedkar. He’s an ambitious robotics guy who wants to make it big. He’s already dating his boss’ daughter Nikki. But that isn’t enough to climb the ladder of success.
A lot of people’s lives drastically change after multiple murders. The second big twist occurs when the hunter becomes the hunted. So we have to see how the narrative becomes complex, gets interconnected, and eventually, secrets are unravelled. The movie becomes thrilling because of elements like betrayal, lies, fear, good dark comedy and a playful background score.
The movie has a runtime of more than 2 hours. But the screenplay is riveting and enjoyable, and the pace is good. So it doesn’t even feel like 130 minutes of watching. Vasan and Yogesh have presented the characters in a very likeable manner, especially that of Jayant and Monica. You want to know what’s going to be their fate even if one has to wait till the very end.
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The murder mystery is not your typical whodunnit story. Even if we figure out who’s behind it, we want to know the reason. The reasoning has more to do with how the person is perceived. It’s a risk to put a message in a wacky thriller like this. But it blends well.
Along with a fantastic yet slightly predictable story and intriguing characters, what makes Netflix’s Monica O My Darling a fun watch is its music. Achint Thakkar has done a brilliant job with his composition, whether it’s the background music or full-fledged songs.
Yeh Ek Zindagi gives full-on retro vibes, and credit also goes to Varun Grover for the meaningful lyrics and Anupama Chakraborty Shrivastava’s beautiful voice. Music composer Achint and singer Anupama indeed take us back to the 70s. My other favourite track from the movie is Love You So Much, which has Goan vibes. The song is used during a hilarious sequence.
Coming to performances, even though the makers want us to focus on Monica, the movie belongs to Rajkummar Rao. I enjoy watching Rao on screen, and he delivers the best when it comes to playing such notorious characters. Huma Qureshi plays a smart seductress who knows what she wants. The actor played her part well. The rest of the cast also does a good job.
Monica O My Darling Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Vasan Bala wants us to have a good laugh at some fictional characters in tragedy and trouble. One will enjoy watching these mischievous characters trying to save themselves from the mess they created with some amazing songs and background music played in between.
The movie is streaming on Netflix.
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