Monkey Man is a 2024 action thriller film directed and produced by Dev Patel in his directorial debut, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Angunawela and John Collee.

The film stars Patel as the title character, with Sikandar Kher, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, and Vipin Sharma in supporting roles.

Monkey Man premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2024, and was released theatrically in the United States and Canada by Universal Pictures on April 5, 2024.

Baba Shakti, a spiritual guru in the nearby city of Yatana, sends corrupt police chief Rana Singh to evict the villagers, who are members of a persecuted religious minority, and acquire their land.

Years later, an older Kid works as a heel and jobber at the underground fight club Tiger's Temple, wearing a monkey mask.

Kid is determined to exact revenge on Rana, who frequents Kings, a luxury brothel and cocaine den disguised as a social club.

Kid infiltrates Kings through an elaborate ruse to meet the manager and pimp Queenie Kapoor and persuades her to give him a job as a menial kitchen worker.

[13] On October 29, 2018, it was reported that Patel would make his directorial debut with an action thriller film titled Monkey Man, which he co-wrote with Paul Angunawela and John Collee, and was set to star in.

[30] Monkey Man explores themes of societal challenges, including corruption, discrimination, caste system, poverty, and the experiences of the Hijra community in India.

[9][8] In the United States and Canada, Monkey Man was released alongside The First Omen, and was projected to make around $12 million from 3,029 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's consensus reads: "An audacious effort from debuting director Dev Patel, Monkey Man dispenses action and sociopolitical commentary with equal aplomb.

[42] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times described the film as "monumentally entertaining" with "a series of extended and elaborate fight sequences so bruising and hyper-violent they make the action in the Road House reboot seem like a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors".

[46] Penelope Debelle wrote in InReview: "This wild and stylish film... is totally brilliant and completely engaging", and that "Patel carries the movie in every sense".

[47] Candice Frederick in HuffPost wrote, "Even with its flaws, Monkey Man stands alone as a testament to what an actor can do once he takes his career into his own hands.

The glimpses of Mumbai poverty are brief but harsh, and at one point Kid takes refuge in a temple of abused transgender women [...] There's also the matter of the movie's main villain, Baba Shakti — a white-haired ultranationalist power broker who whips worshipful mobs into a frenzy.

[51] Aamina Inayat Khan, writing for Autostraddle, noted that while the film was "action-packed, violence-fueled John Wickean cinema", at its core it "is about an underdog taking down a religio-fascist regime, one that resembles India's sitting ruling party".

[52] Saffron Maeve, writing for The Globe and Mail, described the film as "solid and blockbuster-audience friendly", but that its "woozy overediting [...] makes the theatrical experience tiring".