Monkey in a Cage

This scintillating legal procedural from prolific director Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur) takes an unflinching look at the thornier ripple effects of #MeToo in digital-age India. Boasting an all-star cast that includes Bobby Deol, Sanya Malhotra, Saba Azad, and Sapna Pabbi, Monkey in a Cage asks tough questions about how we navigate the increasingly blurry frontier between our public and private lives.

Samar (Deol) is an aging television star whose celebrity is on the wane. Just as he’s settling into a comfortable relationship with the younger Khushi (Azad), his ex Gayatri (Pabbi) wants to be back in his life. Unable — and unwilling — to reason with her, Samar simply ghosts and blocks Gayatri, not realizing that his situation is about to become far more fraught. Gayatri then accuses Samar of rape. He is quickly taken into custody and subjected to a judicial system steeped in corruption and eager to keep him behind bars.

Written by Kashyap and Sudip Sharma (co-creator and showrunner of Netflix’s Kohrra), Monkey in a Cage shrewdly avoids facile demarcations of predation and victimhood. While the film examines #MeToo, it also exposes Samar as a profoundly flawed man who is out of touch with changing attitudes about gender and power.

Riddled with suspense and shifting alliances, this is a story of love, lies, and responsibility that takes nothing for granted.