I would say director Vysakh is a clever man in terms of making a film and promoting a film. In the promo material of the movie, he clearly stated that it is a different film for him and his writer Udaykrishna, which means you need to check the standard of their films before judging Monster. And when it comes to the movie, Vysakh clearly understands how bland the second half of the film is, and he makes sure that the audience will hate the first half so that the second half will look better on screen.
Bhamini and Anil Chandra are a married couple who has a girl child. Anil used to be techy before he got fired from the company. Now the family’s financial support is Bhamini, who works as a driver in a she-taxi firm. Things took an interesting turn when Bhamini had to pick up a passenger named Lucky Singh from Airport. How Lucky’s entry changes things for the family is what we see in Monster.
Well, anybody who reads a little bit of news might be aware that the film faced some censoring issues in countries with specific guidelines regarding LGBTQA+ content in cinema. Just like what Vysakh said in the promo, it is a new thing for him and Udaykrishna. But the sad part is that they have decided to try something “fresh” for them at a time when the world has moved forward, and we even have romantic comedies with LGBTQA+ characters. And frankly, this theme getting included in this film almost feels like an adjustment Udaykrishna did to cover up his unimaginative story that struggles to create scenes that will stay with you for any good reason.
As I said, Vysakh wants the movie to be a bit loud in the first half to distract the audience. But the level of loudness he has used in this movie makes me wonder whether he and Udaykrishna thought the IQ of the audience was similar to a toddler. Sitting through the first half of this movie is an extremely challenging task, and there is a great chance that you might feel the second half is excellent simply because of the crappiness of what you saw before the interval. The cinematography follows a single color tone in most places, which isn’t usual in a Vysakh movie. The fight sequences in the climax also looked slick.
If the drunkard act of Mohanlal in 12th Man felt cringe for you, then Lucky Singh offers a greater cringe package, and this time, you can’t even pause the film. When the movie goes to an area where everything is about that character’s swagger, Mohanlal sleepwalks through those patches easily. After a long gap, Honey Rose gets to play a lengthy and prominent character in a film. Barring some dialogue delivery issues, which were there for almost every character, she delivered a satisfactory performance. Lakshmi Manchu, who plays a crucial role in the movie, deserves a special mention for the stunts she pulled off. Her effort was much more significant, and it was evident. Sudev Nair, Lena, KB Ganesh Kumar, Johny Antony, etc., are the other prominent names in the long star cast.
After writing all those jacky and Stepney jokes, Udaykrishna had the audacity to preach about the acceptance of the LGBTQA+ community at the climax of this film. Looking at the way Lucky Singh has been depicted in the film, I won’t be surprised if the movie gets banned in Punjab. Monster is a worn-out Udaykrishna script that uses its juvenile newspaper headline knowledge about the queer community to create conflict that will help them in pre-release claims of being “different.”
Monster is a worn-out Udaykrishna script that uses its juvenile newspaper headline knowledge about the queer community to create conflict that will help them in pre-release claims of being "different
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
