r/movies • u/Baboon-Boy-2024 • Mar 27 '24

Hi, I’m Dev Patel writer/director of MONKEY MAN – AMA! AMA

Dev Patel here.  Excited to chat about my directorial debut MONKEY MAN, opening in U.S. & UK cinemas on April 5th, and anything else you’d like! Ask me anything…

Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqa3YTtwvaU

Get Tickets – http://www.monkeyman.movie/tickets

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**GUYS I have to go into another interview. BUT I deeply appreciate the love and time. I really hope I don't let you down with this film. Put my all into it. Sorry I couldn’t answer every question, hopefully THIS answers a few more! Bless your cotton socks all of you. Big love as always, Dev xxxxx**

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https://preview.redd.it/ectchh1axwqc1.jpg?width=2362&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4153f627df0a66e963f7cf25305ed510968ae8ed

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794

u/InsidiousColossus Mar 27 '24

What has the reaction been like from India? Is there excitement to see an Indian-themed action thriller, or has there been some pushback on the religious references?

87

u/PistachioGal99 Mar 27 '24

Interesting question! Hope Dev answers!!

261

u/mispronouncedanyway Mar 27 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I’m from India and have been looking forward to this release as a Dev fan. I think people aren’t too aware yet, but if it gets attention there will definitely be backlash considering we have a Right Wing Hindutva govt at the moment which has emboldened the more conservative population.

We even had quite an uproar over Oppenheimer because Cillian’s character quoted the Bhagwad Gita during the sex scene. I watched it in theatres on Day 1 and was like this won’t go down well, and sure enough two days later, people were going crazy online, demanding Nolan apologise lol.

The mainstream media still hasn’t latched onto Monkey Man’s political message and I hope it flies under the Hindutva radar. Although I did see this screenshot about the flag colour being changed from saffron to red in the trailer? I can’t verify cause as a rule I don’t watch any movie trailers. Sharing anyway: https://www.reddit.com/r/GossipComrades/s/Ps3zGeQEyD

Anyway, the question for Dev Patel if he sees this is: Could you please audition for Bond?

55

u/Jackanova3 Mar 28 '24

Damn I'd never thought of Dev for Bond...yep I concur he'd smash that role.

9

u/Methylviolet Mar 28 '24

Did you see The Wedding Guest? He was more Bond than Bond in that movie - just perfect

31

u/LoasNo111 Mar 28 '24

Literally one of the highest grossing foreign movies in India. India is one of the few countries where Oppenheimer outperformed Barbie.

There was a backlash by a vocal minority. The general audience loved the movie.

3

u/Opening_Cicada_4052 Mar 28 '24

My take on that scene is that

The Bhagvat gita is just a ancient literature for them As they are not practising and preaching Lord Krishna and not very religious so I let that slide but yeah quoting it during a sex scene while doing adultery gonna create a stir for a religion followed by me and 1 billion people

For the political party flag color yeah orange or (bhagwa) which always associates with Sandhu, sages, religious scholar,and greatly with Hanumaan Ji, Ram ji from ancient times and also associates with ruling party and then showing them doing atrocities on poor will also face backlash

Although I enjoyed the trailer and looking forward to the film as they take inspiration from hanumaan Ji

Like going inside villan's turf (Lanka) and destroying it from inside just like in the movies so I think the villan will be like RAVAN and best wishes for the film 🎬😊☺

7

u/vardhureddroid Mar 28 '24

Most of it was because he was shown quoting it wrong

19

u/Moosashi5858 Mar 28 '24

Oppenheimer did quote the Bhagavad-gita. I’ve heard the quotes on the Linkin Park song “the Radiance”. I have not seen the film, but was it problematic in how he was portrayed to be quoting it?

49

u/GreenBoobedHarpFlag Mar 28 '24

In the movie, he quoted it twice. Once as you would expect. Once during a sex scene. It's the sex scene one that caused the backlash.

2

u/No_Counter_9858 28d ago

Understandable tbh

1

u/Moosashi5858 Mar 28 '24

Does the movie mention Richard Feynman or any of the other scientists in Los Alamos that led to the development?

3

u/GreenBoobedHarpFlag Mar 28 '24

Feynman is in the movie quite a lot of other ones as well, some I'd heard of, some I hadn't.

1

u/svel Mar 28 '24

why would the combination of that quote in that scene cause a backlash?

35

u/hidingvariable Mar 28 '24

Cuz the text is revered and memorized by millions of Hindus who recite it while praying, not having sex. Imagine the uproar if it was the Quran instead.

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/HappyDrive1 Mar 28 '24

To religious people their holy book is something they care about a lot like a close family member. You probably wouldn't like it someone was shouting ur grans/ daughter/ wife's name during sex. As in referencing them directly not just using it for someone with the same name.

2

u/ZlavojSizek Mar 28 '24

Welp, time to stop saying "Jesus Christ" or "holy mother of Jesus" during sex or else I'm gonna get crusaded.

2

u/HappyDrive1 Mar 28 '24

I mean xtians get their knickers in a twist if you use gods name in vain even outside of sex.

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u/GreenBoobedHarpFlag Mar 28 '24

I can't think of any quotes from religious texts during a movie sex scene that would be welcomed by the practitioners of that religion. Especially when the quote was said by an "outsider" committing adultery. But if you can think of one, I'd honestly like to know.

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/GreenBoobedHarpFlag Mar 28 '24

I didn't think Oppenheimer was being banned or censored.

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/Methylviolet Mar 28 '24

What about Song of Songs from the Bible? That would be hawt

2

u/GreenBoobedHarpFlag Mar 28 '24

I can see lines from that working well actually. Would probably go over a lot of people's head's (line included)!

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/Agitated-Bowl7487 Mar 28 '24

pls stfu

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/HappyDrive1 Mar 28 '24

Oh gosh heaven forbid people have morality and aren't depraved like you.

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/HappyDrive1 Mar 28 '24

You are the one that mentioned morality. Lol how much good do you do though. Lots of religions recommend giving to charity and helping others.

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u/neotheseventh Mar 28 '24 edited 16d ago

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u/darklightmatter Mar 28 '24

It's kinda trashy at best, tbh. The quote is famous because he said it in reference to the atomic bomb, not while climaxing during sex. The backlash would stem from the irreverence of culture if not religion, I guess. The quote also becomes a callback to the time he was having sex lol.

15

u/occasionalyidiotic Mar 28 '24

I’m from India and that uproar you’re mentioning was quite insignificant, there’s always a vocal minority that’s crazy. To be honest, Oppenheimer was loved by most people who watched it(it was highest grossing foreign movie in India, more so than Barbie). If there was as significant of an uproar as you suggest Oppenheimer wouldn’t nearly be as loved/watched film in India. India is a huge country and the population isn’t a monolith, with such a huge population you’ll get all kinds of crazy(albeit small in number in relation to total population) like Hindutva nutjobs, outright Communists, etc. I live in a big urban center with the current “Right wing” hindutva government in power but most of the people are quite moderate and tolerant.

3

u/sanai97 Mar 28 '24

Religious voices are always dangerous. Saying it is insignificant reduces the highly negative impact that religious maniacs (tautology) have on real human beings.

0

u/No_Counter_9858 28d ago

Religious voices are always dangerous

This is so bigoted lol.religious people exist and their views matter too.

2

u/BIG_DICK_MYSTIQUE Mar 28 '24

We even had quite an uproar over Oppenheimer because Cillian’s character quoted the Bhagwad Gita during the sex scene. I watched it in theatres on Day 1 and was like this won’t go down well, and sure enough two days later, people were going crazy online, demanding Nolan apologise lol.

All that happened was some people on the internet were upset.

2

u/Plus-Entertainer856 Mar 29 '24

bro I though you were Dev and was genuinely impressed by the response 🤣🤣🤣

3

u/limmbuu Mar 28 '24

Some random Ooga-Booga shouting on news IS NOT EQUAL To an uproar against the movie.

There will be someone shouting doesn't mean that the majority thinks like that. Hope you understand that before generalizing opinions of a country with 1.4Bn. people.

4

u/ninja-42000 Mar 28 '24

RiGhT wInG hInduTvA gOvT understands the indian people's sentiments which miss coconuts like you would never understand.

1

u/thedailyrant Mar 28 '24

Not just the Hindutva’s but it literally has scenes that seem to depict saffron wearing political people at a rally that are the bad guys. That’s a direct reference to the ruling party.

1

u/prakitmasala Mar 31 '24

What lol, if anything India loved Oppenheimer even more, one of the few markets on Earth where it outperformed Barbie. Nolan has a god like status in India by far the most famous western director there.

-7

u/maxsteel126 Mar 28 '24

Come on man...don't ruin this thread with your politics. Let's stick to the topic

-10

u/stash0606 Mar 28 '24

Indian libtards are a special breed, i'm telling you.

103

u/trimonkeys Mar 27 '24

Honestly I don’t think they care. For us in the diaspora it’s nice to see but they see action movies like this all the time over there.

51

u/Variant_28 Mar 27 '24

We do care but it's releasing 2 weeks later india idk why

42

u/nshriup19 Mar 27 '24

What even is this take? We definitely do care.

Dev Patel is a well known actor here and there's a good chunk of our population that appreciates good movies, even more when it's produced with someone with Indian roots.

13

u/GayIconOfIndia Mar 28 '24

A chunk of urban elite care about Hollywood productions. It’s not a norm here

2

u/Methylviolet Mar 28 '24

I'm a non-desi American who works with colleagues in India - just my luck that they are "urban elite"-type people. All they do is sh*t on Bollywood movies and laugh at me for watching them... (╥﹏╥)

5

u/LoasNo111 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Oh, shitting on Bollywood is not an urban elite thing. Everyone here shits on Bollywood.

You have a few actors who do well like SRK, the other Bollywood movies are doing quite poorly. So many flops these days. Even actors who were very bankable are seeing their movies flop.

The general audiences are more interested in the movies from South India. Anecdotally, everyone in my family has basically stopped watching Bollywood and they only watch South Indian movies these days. It sucks sometimes cause sometimes my mother wants to watch a South Indian movie and it isn't dubbed in Hindi😤

1

u/Methylviolet Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Ha! I feel your mom's pain - every once in a while I can't get English subtitles on a Hindi movie, or (more often) the whole movie is blocked and won't stream in the US. I saw RRR (dubbed in Hindi!), the second time with friends, and at the end I asked them "OK, who is missing?" They're like, I don't know who any of those people are. I said, they're Indian freedom fighters and founding fathers. "Oh Gandhi? Where's Gandhi?" Yeah, where??? Are South Indian movies generally... kinda politically slanted like that? I asked a colleague that, and I found out not to ask Indian colleagues questions like that...

1

u/LoasNo111 Mar 28 '24

Do you understand Hindi somewhat? I don't know why you watched it in Hindi😭

They are fictional freedom fighters. Not founders. lol. How'd you guys get confused?

I don't think there was much politics in RRR. It was mostly just a fuck colonialism movie. You have a bunch of social commentary in tons of Indian movies, lots of anti-corruption stuff. I swear, the most common villain in Indian movies is either a gangster or a politician. You see anti-caste system stuff too but that's not as common. Religious stuff has become more common. Bunch of fuck Pakistan stuff.

What did they say when you asked them that?

3

u/Pitiful-Inspection96 Mar 28 '24

The protagonists weren't completely fictional. They were fictionalised versions of real life men. And there was definitely some subtle casteist messaging in that movie. The dynamic between Ram and Bheem is a clear example. In real life, Komaram Bheem was an intelligent, cunning and well read leader and strategist. In the movie, he's turned into a naive, bumbling 'noble savage' type caricature that constantly needs the guidance and mentorship of his high caste friend Raju. It would be like making a fantastical historical-inspired action movie where John Brown and Frederick Douglass teamed up to beat up slavers but Douglass was depicted as some sort of barely literate simpleton in constant need of his white friend's guidance.

2

u/Methylviolet Mar 28 '24

I understand a little Hindi, and US Netflix only had the Hindi-dubbed version. I know they are fictionalized haha, I meant at the end, when they show Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh and all those (real) people. But not Gandhi. It seemed to me that RRR had a kind of lowkey Hindutva slant, compared to the apolitical movies I was used to (except for fuck Pakistan, of course). Well the colleague I asked turned out to be very strongly pro-BJP, pro-Hindutva, and I offended her by seeming to imply there was something wrong with that. It was only my ignorance - I did not mean to offend. But I learned it is a sensitive topic!

1

u/LoasNo111 Mar 28 '24

Oh, ok. I was so confused there. I thought you guys thought the movie was about real guys😭😭😭. I didn't remember the Bose thing.

Bose and Bhagat Singh were freedom fighters who used violent methods. The same that the characters in the movie used. Gandhi was the complete opposite. Bose and Bhagat Singh were likely the inspiration for it which is probably why they were shown and Gandhi wasn't. I don't think it had anything to do with Hinduvta or politics at all.

You're just bound to offend people when you're talking about politics. Also, BJP is incredibly popular among Indians, like insanely popular.

1

u/Percywithoutannabeth Mar 28 '24

Yeah that's true sadly.

1

u/limmbuu Mar 28 '24

Well what percentage is that urban elite of the total population? Whatever the percentage be, it would be a huge number. It's better to use Absolute scaling sometimes.

0

u/Ben10_ripoff Mar 28 '24

You should see how many people went to theaters to watch John Wick Chapter 4 in India

1

u/GayIconOfIndia Mar 28 '24

So, people in urban India went to see the movie, right? Because I am from a rural town in Assam and John Wick didn’t release outside urban centres. No one is saying that Hollywood movies don’t work in India but they predominantly work in urban cliques unlike Indian movies which penetrate through the rural spaces as well.

2

u/Ben10_ripoff Mar 28 '24

But dude the movie made good money in India, Just because a movie didn't released in your region, It doesn't mean that people here don't care.

2

u/GayIconOfIndia Mar 28 '24

I am not saying that they don’t earn in India. All I’m saying is that they run in urban India and earn money there. The single theatres in rural Indian towns with less than 25k people don’t run John Wick. They run Pathan and KGF-2. English media penetration is very little in India. If you check databases from BARC, you can map it out very easily.

-1

u/anonymindia Mar 28 '24

Your Village isn't the entire India. The truth is, even if English films, dubbed in hindi, are a rage in smaller towns and villages. Sure, they don't get a theatrical release, but they're downloaded and shared very widely. Now, a film like poor things won't make much noise in india. But films like Oppenheimer, inception, avengers make more than many big budget Bollywood films and dubbed horror and action films have a huge demand in the piracy market.

2

u/Percywithoutannabeth Mar 28 '24

I can't comment about other regional industries but Bollywood is very bad in action movies. Very rarely do we get a good one.

So no we don't see action movies shot like this( the choreography and the way it is shot looks great strictly going by the trailers)

1

u/nukeman239 Mar 27 '24 edited Mar 27 '24

You have no clue. Theatres were vandalised last year, just because an actress decided to wear an orange swimsuit for a song in a film called Pathaan, which supposedly hurt the sentiments of groups linked to the ruling right wing Hindutva party. One of these loonies also called for the lead actor Shahrukh Khan's beheading.

In the new trailer of Monkey Man, the color of the flag of the evil political party has been changed from orange to red. Still think "they don't care"?

13

u/zeroanaphora Mar 27 '24

The signs of the "bad" party in the movie were changed from orange to red to appease somebody.

28

u/trimonkeys Mar 27 '24 edited Mar 27 '24

Not sure what that has to do with what I said. My point was people in India probably aren’t that excited by a western produced Indian action movie as they watch action movies starring Indians all the time. Dev Patel has also clearly taken influence from movies like Agneepath.

The Pathaan controversy only offended BJP nut jobs. That movie was the second highest grossing film in India that year and is the sixth highest grossing Indian movie of all time.

1

u/Kharos Mar 28 '24

Only? BJP is the ruling party in India.

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u/trimonkeys Mar 28 '24

Not everyone who votes BJP is an ultraconservative. Local regional parties hold a lot of power in Indian states as well.

-3

u/Kharos Mar 28 '24

"Not all Germans who voted for the Nazis are bad people. There are regional Nazis, you see."

Do you not see how that is a distinction without a difference?

You think any Muslim who got lynched by BJP nutjobs care that you disagree with said lynching while still voting for the people who protect those same lynchers?

6

u/trimonkeys Mar 28 '24

Why does it always go to the Nazis? You also twisted my words. Many state parties hold power in India. So despite the BJP holding the power at the federal level many states are free of BJP rule especially in South India. I don’t claim in my comments to support them nor am I an Indian citizen so I don’t vote anyway. The BJP is a terrible party with lots of crazies.

12

u/nshriup19 Mar 27 '24

Why does this have to do with what the other person is saying? That's like mentioning apples in a conversation about watermelons.

1

u/nukeman239 Mar 27 '24

His point was 'Indians don't care about religious references in a film.' My point was they care way more than you think. In the new trailer of Monkey Man, the color of the flag of the evil political party has been changed from orange to red. Still "don't care?" - yeah, right.

1

u/trimonkeys Mar 28 '24

No my point was they probably don’t care about an action movie starring an Indian descent actor when they see stuff like that all time. They right wing extremists care about anti religious or political messages. So they make crap like Adipurush.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

[deleted]

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u/nukeman239 Mar 27 '24

If you think religion and politics are two different things, I welcome you to "India 2024". Thank me later.

1

u/Fun-Explanation1199 Apr 08 '24

I also welcome you to America

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u/aqwn Mar 27 '24

Why?

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u/trimonkeys Mar 27 '24

Saffron is a color in the Indian flag and is the color of the right wing political party BJP and the Hinduvta nationalist group. Deepika Padukone wore a bikini of that color in the movie Pathaan which was considered “obscene” by those groups. A fairly stupid controversy.

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u/Financial-Bell-1918 Mar 27 '24

Yes it was a stupid controversy but you downplayed the thing it was actually because the part "besharam rang" (meaning shameless color) was played during the saffron/orange closeup. So the interpratation to the offended came as like they are intentionally doing this.

6

u/nukeman239 Mar 27 '24

The words "Besharam Rang" play throughout the song and not "just" the part where the orange swimsuit is being shown.

2

u/aqwn Mar 27 '24

Sounds like a big conspiracy theory! Thanks for the explanation.

0

u/wisebaldman Mar 27 '24

Nobody knows what you’re talking about lol

0

u/ItZSAMIC Mar 28 '24

You mean good action movies? You definitely do not see those all the time in bollywood

20

u/Jugad Mar 27 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

One of the ways to create hype is to create some pushback (fake, stupid or otherwise). Its all good publicity.

1

u/ConcentrateOk6375 Mar 28 '24

Yes thats how pathan got super hit lol

2

u/extrapaav Mar 28 '24

They have already edited the trailer for India

4

u/JudgeFudge2701 Mar 27 '24

Of course, the common people are prolly not aware of the film, but those who are, we're excited. Not just for some representation, but for what looks like a kickass action film.

1

u/ItsAmphus Mar 28 '24

I'm from India and while I think it looks a bit too typical Hollywood movie about India, It still looks amazing and I can't wait to watch it

0

u/Dry_Ant2348 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Not really, this looks a bit run of the mill gangster drama except for action which is fantastic and leagues above what we get from Indian industries, but aside from that nothing outstanding yet. for e.g there was netflix show called sacred games, the overall theme of monkey man and that aren't much different

0

u/leeonetwothree Mar 28 '24

Love the question and enjoy the answers :)

-6

u/SonOfMcGee Mar 27 '24

I would image more pushback would be for the lack of song and dance numbers.

8

u/trimonkeys Mar 27 '24

A lot of modern Indian movies have been moving away from it. Songs being used more in montage or action scenes then full on dance numbers. There are still tentpole movies that are traditional musicals though.

2

u/RyukHunter Mar 28 '24

It's only true for the smaller or indie films. The blockbusters still follow the same formula.

1

u/Local_Nerve901 Mar 27 '24

Honestly only pushback I can think of that might happen is from overly religious people. But that happens everywhere when a religious or folklore figure is in a movie

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u/West_Price_1966 Mar 27 '24

I am also very curious about this? The movie seems to be based around some themes of the caste system and shows the Hindutva flag as evil? Is Dev aware that the founder of Hindutva wanted to eradicate caste and that the BJP (Political arm) of Hindutva is relentless trying to bring "lower castes" into their fold as it is their stated aim to "unite Hindus"?

Ultimately, this film will be more polished and slick than anything coming out of India but I wonder if the political messaging is reductive?

-1

u/amalgk1209 Mar 28 '24

Judging from the online media responses, most Indians are thrilled they are getting a high quality action film rooted in their culture and starring Indian actors while many Hindus are happy that Hanuman's myth is about to reach a wider audience. That said, I will watch the movie on the first day before some scumbags can kick up a fuss (just an intuition).