Monica o my darling is a conedy crime drama thriller directed by vasan bala.

Rajkumar rao is a spellbounding actor. His expressions and dialogue delivery is at par with some of the best in the hindi film industry. He has given a brilliant performance. Huma qureshi plays a chameleon character and she does it so well. The interactions between monica and jayant are one of the best. Sikandar kher shows why he is so under-utilised. Radhika apte and bucky in their small screentime with their impeccable comic timing are gold. Akansha ranjan kapoor is strictly average. The rest of the cast is good. Supri and surya too make an appearance.

One of the strongest qualities of this film is its background score and music overall. The way the retro music has been used is a masterpiece. 'Piya tu' was a gem, is a gem. The other songs which have been composed are too good. The film gives a homage to the noir thrillers that were a mainstay in the 60's and 70's in hindi cinema brilliantly.

The screenplay is mostly engaging. You will feel though that the pace is lacking at certain places. In the first half, when the transport happens you will feel the lag. But the writing is very good. The dialogue writing is pure gold again. When jay says 'physics hai ch**iye, serial killer nahi hoon main', you will chuckle. There is brilliant comic fight scene between jay and monica which is hilarious and disturbing too at the same time. The comedy is pretty good.

This film is a homage and reference site. At shalu's house, you will see a board with the famous characters and directors of the noir genre from the world. That's just amazing. The film uses chekov's gun too. Jay'watch and the cobras are two examples. The film pays homage to the noir shadow shot, captain zattack and even sriram raghavan's one of the finest works 'johnny gaddar'. Just watch out for the references, cinephiles. Its marvellous.

There is a lot to talk about with this film. A must watch for sure. I rate it 9 out of 10.