Slumdog Millionaire Star Dev Patel's Directorial Debut Monkey Man Purchased By Netflix For Whopping 35 Million Dollars? Dev's Co-Star Sheds Light - EXCLUSIVE
Dev Patel is marking his directorial debut with Monkey Man that will release on Netflix.
Dev Patel is going places. Last year his starring role as British litterateur David Copperfield in The Personal History Of David Copperfield fetched him terrific reviews and great money at box office. Now, the Slumdog Millionaire actor has turned director with Monkey Man, a crime thriller set in Mumbai in which Patel plays a character simply named the Kid who comes out of prison swearing vengeance against those who wronged him.
There is nothing here that sounds even remotely unconventional. And yet Netflix has apparently purchased Monkey Man from Patel(reportedly at a staggering 35 million dollars) on condition that some of the more violent scenes will have to go. An actor who has worked with Dev Patel confided in me and said, “Dev’s directorial debut has turned out really well. The sum that you heard him get from Netflix is right. But it’s a little bit on the violent side and also some portions regarding some mythological references may not go down well with Indian audiences. Netflix has acquired the film on condition that they would modify the content in keeping with the mood of self-censorship being prescribed in India.”
Talking about the leading lady, it is Shobhita Dhulipala who will be starring in Money Man. "I had auditioned for it almost five years ago and I got a call back in a few days for a screen test with Dev. I remember, it was on the day I was leaving for the Cannes Film festival with my first film Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016). All these years later and many turns in the journey of the film and our individual lives later, looks like we belonged with each other all along," the actress had said in an interview.
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