Nepal International Film Festival

Official Selection

Monkey Enters Lanka

34:24|United KIngdom

Director:

Saie Surendra

Country:

United KIngdom

Year:

2020

Film Duration:

34:24

Language:

Chinese, English, Hindi, Russian, Tamil

Producer:

Saie Surendra, Vijay Sodhi, Yu Lei, Rajesh Rajilal

Screenwriter:

Saie Surendra

Cast:

Dhvel Patel, Carmen Rain Lykoo, Saie Surendra, Vijay Sodhi, Maya Malik

Synopsis

The ancient city of Lanka suffers under a tyrant. Concubines are being abducted from all over the world. One special princess disappears and that’s when a legendary folk hero is called for once again, his name, feared throughout the heavens and hells.. the Monkey King.

Director's Statement

'Monkey Enters Lanka' is based on a famously retold folktale but from a more dark and gritty angle, focusing on the angle of Women Empowerment. This is the miniature low-budget proof-of-concept version of my magnum opus. As a IP without copyright, we have seen so many 'Monkey King' and 'Ramayana' Film and TV adaptations. I wanted to tell the story with a different type of flavour. Told from the Monkey's angle, in an Arthouse style combining Anime with Live-Action. Over the course of 4 years, experimenting with different techniques, costumes and ideas, I took inspiration from some of my favourite films, ‘Sin City’ and ‘300’ and combined it with the folklore-superhero genre. This may well be a first.