‘Monkey Man’ attempts to reclaim Hinduism for the underdog

By invoking Hanuman — one of the most beloved Hindu deities — in a critique of Hindu nationalism, some film critics say Dev Patel’s action thriller does something novel.

“Monkey Man,” Dev Patel’s directorial debut action thriller that he also stars in, wrote and produced, opens with a tale familiar to Hindus around the world. A child listens as his mother tells him the story of Hanuman, the anthropomorphic monkey god. In his hunger, young Hanuman mistook the sun for a juicy mango. As Hanuman went to take a bite, the gods punished the mischievous deity for overreaching by stripping him of his powers. This mythology is the foundation of “Monkey Man,” which hit theaters on April 5. Now an adult living in the fictional Indian city of Yatana, Kid (played by Patel himself) remembers the legend of Hanuman and uses it as inspiration as he plots revenge on the corrupt forces that raided his forest village and killed his mother. An underdog in a society divided by caste and class, Kid mirrors the simian god in more ways than one. Meanwhile, the film’s villains — as movie critics have noted and as Patel has alluded to — look a lot like India’s right-wing, Hindu nationalist government. In recent years, party leaders have taken actions that critics say marginalize minorities and embolden extremist groups. “Really, it’s a revenge film about faith and how faith can be a beautiful teacher,” Patel said in a conversation at SXSW. “But at the same time, faith can be weaponized. Faith can be monetized. And you see that in the opposing end.” By invoking Hanuman — one of the most beloved Hindu deities — in a critique of Hindu nationalism, some critics and viewers say “Monkey Man” does something novel.