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Starring:
Divya Dutta, Ashutosh Rana, Rajit Kapoor, Sandeep
Misra, Tinu Anand, Kittu Gidwani, Yashpal Sharma
Director: Sushen Bhatnagar
This story talks about the stormy and turbulent
relationship between a scheming politician, aspiring to
be the Chief Minister of a state in North India and a
political journalist aiming to achieve the star status
in her field of work.
Monica is about love, lust, conspiracy, scams, deception
and murder and it is ingeniously constructed by Sushen
Bhatnagar who has penned the script and directed the
drama.
Bollywood has seen several films centred around women
journalists like the ones done by Sridevi in Roop Ki
Rani, Choron Ka Raaja, Konkona Sen Sharma in Page 3,
others starring Dimple Kapadia, Kangana Ranaut and the
last memorable flick about Rani Mukherjee in No One
Killed Jessica. Yes, this one seems a little different,
as the protagonist in this film is diverse from the ones
we have seen before.
Monica was not ready just to seeing herself being
exploited. She was prepared to barter. She gets married to a simpleton Raj
Jaitley (Rajit Kapoor) for love and have a family. She sweet-talks her way
through a powerful person Aseem Ray (Tinnu Anand) to achieve her aim. This
contemporary lady goes to the extent of seducing Pamela Garewal (Kittu Gidwani)
for power. She surrendered to a wily politician Chandrakant Pandit (Ashutosh
Rana) for all this and more – just for what?
To achieve what she wanted to be in her life. At one point she is becomes a
fugitive. But was it worth the struggle? The writer of this bizarre film
demonstrates that ambitions are not only limited to men; even women can be
overly ambitious! Well?
An usual stuff presented in a very unusual manner is the unconventional
narration of the story which goes back and forth, journeying through several
phases in Monica's life through a lawyer (Yashpal Sharma) which unfolds in the
courtroom drama.
Cast:
Divya Dutta - Monica Jaitley
Ashutosh Rana - Chandrakant Pandit
Dadhi Pandey - Sandeep Mishra
Tinu Anand - Assem Ray
Rajit Kapoor - Raj Jaitley
Kittu Gidwani - Pamela Garewal
Yashpal Sharma - Mathur
Kunika - Judge
Saurabh Dubey - Shrikant Vohra
Ashish Kapoor - Killer
Kurush Khodaiji - Killer
Mithilesh Chaturvedi - Defence Lawyer
Yatin Karyekar - M.J
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MONICA is not just about a media person, but also looks at
the various roles that this ambitious lady portrays in her
life – as the wife of an alcoholic, mother of an
illegitimate child, a motivated and a fearless lady, who
dramatically turns into a person scared for her life…
Monica (Divya Dutta) learns from her childhood that there
are two classes of people in the world – the exploiters
and the exploited. This small-town school girl experiences
it from being a victim of child abuse in a cinema hall in
Lucknow, to meeting thick skinned media personalities
while growing up, to compromising with a powerful
politician to achieve her goal.
These episodes in her stormy life have been depicted in a
rather unusual manner by director Sushen Bhatnagar with
sincerity and commitment.
Ashutosh Rana conveys a lot through his eyes effectively
portraying a scheming politician. How these politicians
are cool even in the hottest of the situations. Yes that’s
what is displayed by this master actor. Divya Dutta adds
one more role enacted with finesse to the list of her past
films.
Rajit Kapoor as Monica’s laid back husband is okay. Dadhi
Pandey, as Ashutosh Rana's confidante, is brilliant, Tinnu
Anand and Kittu Gidwani are just rightly given their
parts. Yashpal Sharma displays talent with yet another
super performance. Kunika, Yateen Karyekar and Saurabh
Dubey too do well. The man who portrays the roller of a
killer - Ashish Kapoor is very convincing.
There are several instances of similarities inspired from
real-life scams and issues. Monica might not appeal to the
masses. It is a well made film which will be appreciated
by a certain section of the audience.
- Amarjeet
Credits & Crew:
Director: Sushen Bhatnagar
Story / Writer - Sushen Bhatnagar
Dialogue - Sushen Bhatnagar
Lyricist - Israr Ansari
Music Director - Raju Rao
Cinematography - Chandan Goswami
Editor - Santosh Kumar, Adesh Verma
Background Music - Raju Rao
Sound - Rakesh Ranjan
Costume Designer - Sonia Dhingra |
