April 24 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Indian viewers have found a way to watch Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man amid rumours of the action flick not releasing in Indian cinemas. The film was scheduled to release in India alongside the rest of the world on April 5, but hasn’t been cleared for release yet.
Monkey Man release
While there’s no clarity on the release of Monkey Man in India, it has dropped on video-on-demand platforms in the US. Consequently, pirated versions of the film made their way to the internet. Indian viewers thus resorted to that route amid uncertainty over its official release in the country.
Incidentally, Indian viewers got to watch Monkey Man on not only Dev Patel’s birthday on Tuesday, April 23, but also Hanuman Jayanti. The film is heavily inspired by the Indian mythological figure.
A user wrote on X, “dude does everyone have the monkey man link but me.” “Dev patel girls will say he such a mastermind to float monkey man link on hanuman jayanti,” posted another. A third post read, “#MonkeyMan torrent is going to break records in India. Yes? No?”
About Monkey Man
The action thriller follows the journey of a young man portrayed by Dev Patel, who embarks on a mission to seek justice for his mother’s death, caused by corrupt leaders. However, his quest for vengeance takes an unexpected turn as he becomes a champion for the oppressed and powerless, transforming into the titular Monkey Man.
Alongside Dev, the film features Sikandar Kher, Sharlto Copley, Sobhita Dhulipala, Makarand Deshpande, Ashwini Kalsekar, and others. Notably, Dev Patel not only directs and stars in the film, but also serves as a producer, alongside Jordan Peele.
Among those who praised the film were actor Priyanka Chopra, who took to her Instagram Stories earlier this month and shared a clip from Monkey Man. Sharing the video, she captioned the post, which read, “Bravo #DevPatel. What an impressive debut!”
Monkey Man premiered at the SXSW and received a standing ovation, bringing Dev Patel to tears.