Some films make your brain churn for the right reasons. Some do that just to irk you. “Monster” is a film that doesn’t have any clue where it is going in the first half and comes across as smart in the second half. A Malayalam language investigation thriller film directed by Vysakh, who previously gave us Pokkiri Raja, Seniors, Mallu Singh, Pulimurugan, and many forgettable masala films in the last decade. A Sardar barges into the lives of a couple because, well, why not? How does that change the lives of this couple? “Monster,” released on October 21st, 2022, in theaters, delves a lot of time into finding out who is this, what is that, and why is that around the female lead of the film, without giving any context whatsoever.
Spoilers Ahead
Story Of Bhamini, Chandra, And Lucky Singh
Bhamini is a full-time working wife who, along with Chandra, takes care of the house and their daughter. Despite Chandra’s recent failure as an entrepreneur, she takes it upon herself to start full-time work to bring financial stability to their lives. Chandra was also recently fired from an IT job and injured his leg in a car accident. They both have a nanny, Durga, who helps them with taking care of their daughter, Kunjatta. With all of this on their plate, Bhamini works with She-Taxi company as a driver. On reaching her workplace, she is assigned to pick up Lucky Singh from the airport. In a hurry to reach the airport, she is stopped by the traffic police for overspeeding. Bhamini manages to cut through without a fine. She initially doesn’t find Lucky Singh at the arrival gate but later finds him waiting for her inside the car. Lucky Singh turns out to be a Malayali who converted to Sikhism, is chatty, and loves indulging in harmless flirtatious chat, which Bhamini is uncomfortable with. Bhamini tries her level best to be as nice as possible with Lucky Singh but soon starts finding him a tad bit annoying. Lucky Singh keeps chatting continuously, to Bhamini’s dismay. Bhamini mentions that she has taken half a day off because she is celebrating her wedding anniversary. Lucky invites himself to the celebration, to Bhamini’s annoyance. He also buys a cake for them as a gift. But since he is the customer, she cannot refuse him and lets him join the party. Lucky Singh reveals he owns an apartment in the same complex where Bhamini lives, and he is planning to sell it off and move back to Punjab. Bhamini, at this point, is highly annoyed at Lucky’s interference in her life and the eagerness he is showing to barge into her home when all she wants is to celebrate her anniversary with her husband and daughter.
Lucky Singh walks in just before the celebration begins and makes himself comfortable without being told to do so. Chandra and his daughter Kunjatta, though, are comfortable with him around, but Bhamini’s discomfort is visible. Lucky offers to make lunch for them as he is a well-known restaurateur in Punjab. He cooks delicious food for them, but sadly, the occasions turn sour as he ends up ruining the cake purchased to celebrate their anniversary. Lucky apologizes profusely, but Bhamini remains upset throughout. Lucky soon asks Bhamini to help with carrying out an errand for him. He asks her to drop the money off to his lawyer to help with the sale of his property. While she is out, Lucky Singh comes back to Bhamini’s place and ends up killing Chandra cold-bloodedly. He hides his body in a giant body bag and asks Bhamini to conduct one last errand for him. In the meantime, he hides Chandra’s body in the trunk of the car. Unknown to Bhamini, they both head to the airport to drop Lucky off. Bhamini comes back to find out that Chandra and their daughter are nowhere to be seen. She files a missing person report, and soon the police suspect Bhamini. They take her to the car and find Chandra’s body in the trunk of the car she was driving. The police arrest Bhamini because she stands accused of her husband’s murder and the disappearance of their daughter. Bhamini, at this point, is terrified of what has transpired around her. She lost her husband and stood accused of his murder; she is mortified by the fact that she will be sent to jail for something she hasn’t done. She is unaware that Chandra has been killed by Lucky Singh, who is living without an ounce of guilt around him. Here’s us explaining the end of the film to know if Bhamini continues to stand accused of the murder she did not commit.
‘Monster’ Ending Explained: What Will Bhamini Do To Get Out Of The Murder Case Pinned On Her?
The police arrested Bhamini and kept grilling her about what motivated her to kill her husband and what she did to their daughter. Upon pressure and constant questioning, Bhamini insists that she is innocent and isn’t aware of who murdered her husband. They find evidence against her in the house, a video recording of his husband’s death, and a gun. Bhamini is in utter shock to see evidence piling up against her without her knowing of it. She is unaware of who shot the video of Chandran being killed or who planted the gun inside her home. She begs the investigation officers about her innocence. The police officers are now convinced she is innocent, but the evidence says otherwise. She is taken to the magistrate’s home, but on the way, she is kidnapped by another group that ambushes the police convoy.
As Bhamini is taken to a safe place, it is soon revealed that Bhamini is not someone who portrays herself to be. She is the leader of a gang that is up to something, and maybe she has something to do with her husband’s murder. Bhamini is confronted by Lucky Singh once again, but she escapes. It is unclear at this point what Bhamini’s game plan is. Did she hire Lucky Singh to kill her husband, or was he killed over a business deal gone wrong that was mentioned at the beginning of the film? Lucky Singh’s intention looks kind of here and there, and it is not revealed up until this point why he came into their lives and killed Chandra out of nowhere. The police officers who investigated Bhamini’s case are invited by their superior officers, who reveal that Lucky Singh is none other than a senior investigation officer who has gone undercover to unearth a major insurance scam run by Bhamini. Lucky Singh turns out to be Shivdev Subramaniam, who was following up on Bhamini, aka Rebecca. Shivdev has been working on this case for a few years, and he is happy to finally find the culprit and finally get a big breakthrough in this case. Shivdev finally reveals he had come across several death cases with the same pattern. A husband was dying of an unsuspected heart attack, a woman was claiming insurance money, and no trace of the woman could be found after that. Suspecting foul play in the husband’s death, Shivdev narrows it down to Rebecca, who goes from a prime suspect to a prime accused. Shivdev meets up with Chandra, Bhamini’s new target, and reveals the truth about her past. Chandra firmly believes Bhamini loves him and his daughter and cannot imagine she would be capable of killing him. Chandra has not come to terms with the fact that Bhamini is capable of something like this. Especially the way she helps him take care of his daughter. Shivdev convinces him to join the elaborate plan to capture Bhamini/Rebecca. Shivdev concludes that Bhamini is not working alone and has a partner along with her. Shivdev gets it right to the T; only the last crucial 1% of the information was inaccurate. Shivdev is proud to have cornered her, and Shivdev is close to arresting her and her partner. Bhamini is now aware she is a prime accused and is on the run from the law and police. But not before she is caught leaving by Shivdev. Bhamini soon reveals that Shivdev is almost right about her partner, but he got one crucial piece of information wrong. Bhamini feels proud to have one-upped Shivdev in his game and thinks she has outsmarted them.
Bhamini reveals that her partner is none other than Durga, whose real name is Catherine. Catherine and Bhamini/Rebecca have been together since their days in the orphanage. Their friendship bloomed into love, and that is when they were kicked out of school. Rebecca and Catherine are deeply in love and can not imagine living without one another. They constantly struggled but finally found solace in 2011 when the Haryana court granted legal recognition to two women marrying. They got married only to be punished and humiliated by the locals and police of that state. Unable to take the constant humiliation, they decided to move to a country that would recognize their marriage. For that, they needed money, and that is when they came up with the plan to marry off Rebecca to men with hefty insurance money to their name and kill them in an unsuspected manner. They succeeded in this grand scheme to make money until they were caught and arrested by Shivdev. Their need to take revenge on society comes from the fact that they were never really acknowledged by society, even though laws have been passed in the country to protect them. But the law, the police, and the media never came to their support, which made them take extreme steps for their safety and future. Catherine and Rebecca might have taken extreme steps for their benefit, but no one can deny the number of ostracization couples like them face in our country daily. Be it male or female, As Shivdev states, their anger is palpable, but their actions are not justified. A crime is a crime, whether you have done it for the right reasons or not. Catherine and Rebecca only wanted to live with one another. They could have earned money the right way instead of killing people. Their love for each other cannot negate the fact that they killed people. Shivdev believes they have the right to life, but they do not have the right to kill anyone. Bhamini/Rebecca, and Catherine are arrested. Shivdev finally reveals to Chandran’s daughter that he is the “Monster.”
Conclusion
“Monster” is a weird film that uses the queer couple angle just to titillate the audience and is never used to take the film forward. The screenplay and story are jarring to the point; one wonders what a queer character has got to do with committing murders. Are you saying gay men or lesbians indulge in crime just to fuel their anger towards society and go on a killing spree? Isn’t this what straight people do as well? This film did not make sense from the beginning till the end. We cannot even begin to start what bad precedence this film sets when it comes to creating awareness about the LGBTQ community. There are laws in place right now that help the people of this community, but this film takes it one notch up. The music in this film is deafening. The performances by all the actors, especially the legend himself, Mohanlal, are a big letdown. He is sleepwalking through the film, and that is easy to notice. None of the comedy tracks work, and Mohanlal can be seen struggling to land the jokes. The rest of the cast was just mediocre, which wasn’t good enough to keep the film afloat. All in all, “Monster” is something not recommended even as a one-time watch.
“Monster” is now running at theatres near you with subtitles.
