Dev Patel, who made his acting debut with Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, is presently busy promoting his directorial debut Monkey Man, which had its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.
Speaking at SXSW, the 33-year-old actor said that his film reflects contemporary issues in India and delves into the intricacies of the caste system through action sequences.
He said, “My grandfather used to tell me stories from Ramayana, particularly of Hanuman. My father has this little necklace with a Hanuman pendant on it. Those mythologies have so many interesting parallels to them. When you put those stories in a caste system and the idea of the one percent against the elite. I was like I can take this and take what would be a Lord Of the Rings-type film and distill it down and give it some social weight. I thought I could fuse this mythology with my love for the action genre.”
Explaining how Monkey Man is about faith, Dev Patel said, “It’s really a revenge film about faith. How faith can be a beautiful teacher for the uneducated. For a kid that grew up in a forest, a mother can inspire the child with stories, iconography, and capture his imagination, but at the same time faith can be weaponised and monetised. Personally, for me, I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, for me Hinduism is a beautiful philosophy, and what’s going on in India, we touch on all of these things and try and give a voice to the voiceless.”
In addition to Patel, Monkey Man also stars Sobhita Dhulipala, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Makarand Deshpande, Adithi Kalkunte, Sikandar Kher, and Sharlto Copley.
The action thriller is set to release by Universal Pictures on April 5.
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