Typical of the neo-noir genre, one can feel an evil, sinister presence lurking in the shadows as the central characters in the film Monica, O My Darling, navigate the rather murky circumstances surrounding a Pune-based robotics company. This presence manifests itself in many ways – venomous snakes which are sent to kill specific targets, a manually controlled robotic arm used by a factory worker to murder a colleague, a femme fatale secretary who is trying to take what the world owes her ‘plus GST and excise’ and a killer who is forced to let go of his morals to find an equal footing as those around him. The viewers, of course, do not know which one is which until the very last frame so they are often second-guessing themselves. Typical of the neo-noir genre, Monica, O My Darling is almost paranoia-inducing – the kind of film that makes viewers look over their shoulder constantly in fear that the sinister presence might cause them harm.
The film also briefly touches upon existentialism and world weariness, again a motif commonly seen in neo-noir films. “F**k Unicorn, f**k the money. I am going to the police. I will tell them the truth”, says a dejected Jay Arkhedkar (Rajkummar Rao) after he comes close to killing Monica Machado (Huma Qureshi) but eventually decides not to. The frustration of having become a pawn in a twisted game of chess being played by those lurking in the shadows gets the best of Jay – a man from Angola who has come from nothing and will do anything to make it big, much like Monica. In this scene, Monica and Jay’s helplessness is palpable. So is their anger at the world which is downright cruel and insensitive to their kind – the social climbers who try to disrupt the status quo and rise to top without compromising on their morals – for the most part, that is.
Add to it, a rain-drenched setting, strategically placed flashbacks, neon lights and seemingly self-righteous but morally dubious detective and the film seems to have ticked the entire checklist of tropes in the neo-noir genre. The larger question is – will the film help put the genre on map for Indians? It is not that neo-noir is a completely unexplored genre in Indian cinema. Sriram Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddaar (2007), Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking (2007) and Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016) are some noteworthy films in the genre. But it will be safe to say that neo-noir hasn’t really been explored fully unlike the rom-coms, sports biopics and social dramadies. Black comedy, similar to neo-noir, is also mostly unexplored too – unless one considers a few off-beat experiments which paid off like Kashyap’s Dev D (2009), Abhiney Deo’s Delhi Belly (2011), Andhadun (2019) and more recently, Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah-starrer Darlings (2022).
Why hasn’t the neo-noir or black comedy genre seen commercial success in India? Ask an average viewer this question and they’d probably argue that being a third world country with a colonial past, rampant crime and corruption – India and therefore Indians are looking for an escape in cinema. Their lives are already dark, with high crime rates, the violence around them is already too much for them to shell out 300 rupees and watch it in a theater. So they’d rather watch SRK romance Kajol is the Swiss Alps or watch films shot at scenic locales that aren’t seen in India. However, with the OTT boom, more people are discovering the entertainment value in neo-noir films. They now know that the darkness and violence they see on the screen serves a purpose. Unlike brainless masala action films where most violence inflicted by the hero is meaningless, here the violence and bleakness pay off in the end and make for a rewarding watch.
Darlings, for instance, dealt with domestic violence, a darker theme as compared to what we usually see in mainstream cinema and wasn’t set in the plush locales but in a Mumbai chawl. The viewing experience however, was just as rewarding if not more. There is, of course, nothing wrong with film-viewing experiences that are visually and aesthetically pleasing as long as they are not an assault on the sensibilities and the intellect of the audience.
The dark, twisted, sinister and paranoia-inducing neo-noir thrillers might just be a new genre which is at the cusp of exploding and going mainstream. However, there is a lot to explore within the genre given its untapped potential and it would be interesting to see if Indian filmmakers will bank it the way they did with sports biopics.
Monica, O My Darling is streaming now on Netflix.
Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75.
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