Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
Tony (aka My Mentor the
Serial Killer: Tony)
Directed by Vipul K. Rawal
eBiz India Entertainment Unlimited
124 minutes, 2019
While the American film market is arguably the
most influential, it pales in comparison to the sheer volume that comes out of
India, the most prolific cinema industry on the globe. Some Indian releases occasionally
make it out to the world’s theaters and become hits, like Dil Se (1998;
translated as “From the Heart”), but outside India, most are just shown on
cable stations.
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| Mahesh Jilowa |
If you are into Bollywood on any level, there
are some things you probably know. First, most films from there are also light
musicals, even during some of the most intensive of stories (again, such as Dil Se is a perfect example), though this one is
not. That would have been a hoot. Secondly, releases from that part of the
world tend to be really long, rarely being under two hours. This one does fall
into that category, at 2 hours and 4 minutes.
When it comes to films about serial killers,
most of the attention is on the police investigations, aligning with the likes
of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” or “Criminal Minds.” This film is a
little different in that the main focus is on the serial killer, here known as
– duh – Tony. There’s definitely police action, but the locus is on the killer
and his followers. While this does not fall under “horror,” it certainly aligns
nicely with “thriller.”
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| Yashodhan Rana |
Because of the filling of time, we don’t even
get past the prologue and into the flashback, doing a reverse of most of the
West’s genre flicks which start in the past and then switch to “now” (usually).
Here, the beginning sets up the story that happened previously, and then
switches back and forth between the past and the present until they catch up.
Nice touch.
For the main story, we meet four college psychology
students working together on a class project. They are the reluctant Ashish
(Mahesh Jilowa) who we meet in the prologue, the bearded leader of the group,
Martin (Dhruv Souran), Kartik (Kabir Chilwala) and the only woman of the quad,
Kamya (Jinal Belani). Ashish is an orphan and poor, and Martin is the spoiled
and privileged son of a rich local politician. Kartik and Kamya are also from
the higher and monied end of the social strata.
As the assignment for the class, they are
given to present a project about an occupation. Martin wants to do something
different, so he hides a camera in a Catholic church confessional and winds up
recording the declaration of a serial killer named Tony (Yashodhan Rana).
Before you can say Man Bites Dog (1992), the group is
aiding and abetting Tony on his murderous path, becoming part of the equation
rather than merely being “objective” observers.
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| Dhruv Souran |
As for Tony, he is not like most serial
killers in Western films, who tend to be social rejects (what we now call
InCels), or suave and charming (such as Christian Bale’s American Psycho).
While he is handsome and self-assured, he is also cold, calculating, and
smarter than our students in manipulation, even with egocentric and hubristic Martin’s
high IQ. Other than Ashish, the other three are really into the excitement of
killing, tempted by the dark side. Tony, however, does have a secret that I
figured out far into the film, probably right where I was supposed to do so.
There is much more to the story, including
corrupt cops and politicians, jealousy, persuasion, and a bit
of mental illness thrown in to produce what ends up being an overly long but interesting
film in total. Sure, there could have easily been about 30 minutes taken out; do
we really need to see Sub-Inspector Vilas Mote (Manoj Chandila), our main
police character, ride his scooter for as long as we do in a montage? No, but I
would say the same about Easy Rider (1969).
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| Manoj Chandila |
While a belief in a Christian power is
prominent, a question I have about the tone of the story is whether it is anti-Catholic.
These Protestant students basically call out Catholics for child abuse and the ambiance
is quite dismissive. In the attached photo, Martin contemptuously says, “These
Catholics go to church after making a mistake, not to the police station.“ Personally,
I think all religions have issues – and I’m certainly not Christian nor Hindi –
but it felt kind of like finger-pointing and preachy in that way. What I mean
is, if you had substituted the Church for a Synagogue, the ADL would probably
be protesting, rightfully.
Filmed in the city of Mumbai (India) and in
the Hindi language with decent captions, this is a pretty nice thriller that is
part police procedural and part reminiscent of Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer (1986), especially with Tony’s kind of flat-yet-smirking personality
that makes him all the creepier while also normalizing him at the same time. Speaking
of smirking, Martin
reminds me so much of Trump Jr.; it’s the same
sense of privilege and believing they are immutable because of a rich and
powerful daddy, when they are just someone you want to get a very strong
comeuppance.
The film reminds me more of the crime shows
that have been come out on cable from Europe recently, such as “Ultraviolet”
and “The Valhalla Murders.” The moments of time stretching are definitely
there, but overall, this is still a taut thriller, especially once you pass the
45-minute mark. While the ending I thought up was pretty good but not realized,
this still passes the biting the fingernail test (figuratively, not literally).
Isake lie jao!
