After the recent NO ONE KILLED JESSICA, here is another dark reality inspired film which talks about the nexus between Journalism, Politics and Industrial Business. But despite of having some good scenes and a thoughtful direction in parts, MONICA overall fails to make an impact and doesn’t offer anything great as compared to NOKJ. It majorly remains a kind of low budget film trying to cash on with its subject revolving around lust, sex, money, fame and politics.
In fact, MONICA is a clear example of the fact that the actors really don’t get to know that how their film is actually shaping up in totality. Till the film is complete and ready with its final print, I really doubt that any person from its cast is ever shown the final product before its premiere unless specifically asked for. So, basically the film is signed looking at its basic theme, reading the script if available and considering the name of the director who has been given the job to make it for a particular production house. But no one can guess, other than the director himself that how the film will actually look or what will it deliver once its shooting and post production work is complete.
Now, the reason why I am talking about this hidden truth about film-making here is that MONICA, which is being reviewed here, has one outstanding performance by its leading lady Divya Dutta and another sparkling act by now rarely seen Ashutosh Rana, which sadly gets completely wasted in this otherwise weak film. The director Sushen Bhatnagar keeps following an uneven path throughout the movie, wherein at some places you feel like praising him and at some it’s nothing more than a B-grade cheap thriller.
Hence all the hard work and sincere effort put in by Divya Dutta, goes in vain since the film altogether doesn’t give you anything worth watching apart from its performances. And who goes to watch a film only for its few brilliant acts? The blame entirely goes to the director who despite of having some superlative actors by his side and a good subject in hands, fails to come up with an equally polished product which entertains. And I really feel sympathy for Divya who must have had a bad time after watching the movie as a whole. Or as a second thought its also possible that the actors have become so professional that don’t really care about how their film has actually shaped up after its completion? Anyway in both the cases it’s the loss of the viewers in the end, who very excitingly come to the theaters spending both their valuable time and money.
Being based on a similar topic and drama, the film automatically gets connected to the recent hit NO ONCE KILLED JESSICA and cannot get away with a comparison. Truly speaking, it simply stands no-where in front of the thought provoking and informative narrative followed in NOKJ which came just a few months before and is still fresh in the minds of the viewers. There is no excitement build up in MONICA and the viewers never feels connected or related to any of the real life characters shown on the screen. However the film does have some well written dialogues accompanied by an appreciable Cinematography which appeals. It scores in bit and parts, especially in its last 10 minutes, which I liked the most.
In the acting department, apart from the two names mentioned above, I was also surprised by a hamming act done by one of my favourite actors, Rajit Kapoor. Though his recent films have not been very good but I really never expected such uncaring kind of performance from an actor of his stature. Yashpal Sharma as the lawyer is just ok and struggles with his diction in the court. Dadhi Pandey as Rana’s associate is cunningly good. Tinnu Anand and Kittu Gidwani are both fine but I seriously could not accept Kunika being cast as the Judge. That was really a big innovation tried by the director.
In all MONICA doesn’t offer anything new but as the only silver lining in the black clouds, it has Divya Dutta and Ashutosh Rana showing the class of their own, who can be given a chance if you happen to be a fan of any of these two most under-utilized actors of Bollywood.
Ratings : 1.5 / 5
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