Murder at Monkey Hill

1976 film

1976 (1976)

Running time

20 minLanguagesHindi, English

Murder at Monkey Hill is 1976 Indian film written and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The short film in Black-and-white was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his final project while doing his diploma at FTII.^[1] Vinod Chopra, himself, played the lead role with Anjali Paigankar while Dilip Dhawan and Mehmood (not the famous Bollywood comedy actor) made short appearances in the film. Vidhu's 1981 movie Sazaye Maut is based on this movie.

Plot

A professional hitman Akhtar is hired by Seth to murder a girl Prabhi. But as Akhtar charms her to get near her to kill her he actually falls in love with her. At loss to honour his commitment to murder for which he has taken one lakh rupee and finding himself unable to kill her, he pays a woodcutter to do that. As the woodcutter chases Prabhi with an axe in his hand, the film comes to an abrupt end without showing if he succeeds or not.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Cast

Vidhu Vinod Chopra as Akhtar
Anjali Paigankar as Prabhi
Dilip Dhawan as Woodcutter
Mehmood as Seth

Accolades

The film won the National Film Award for Best Short Experimental Film and the Guru Dutt Memorial Award for Best Student Film.^[5] It also won recognition at the Montreal and Leipzig film festivals.^[6]

References

^ "Bollywood's talent pool". The Tribune. 5 August 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ "Murder at Monkey Hill". Culture Unplugged. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ "Synopsis". Vinod Chopra Films. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ "Broken Hearts: that's what Parinda fans will nurse after watching this one!". The Telegraph. 12 April 2015. Archived from the original on 23 April 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ "Vidhu Vinod Chppra". Chiloka. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
^ "Murder at Monkey Hill". Oye Cinema. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2015.