Eeb Allay Ooo!

In Eeb Allay Ooo! (respective vocal sounds made by langurs, humans, and monkeys), the sister of the lead character is happy that her brother (Shardul Bharadwaj) has landed a government job with help from her security guard husband. She doesn't care about how much it pays, and knows and is ignoring or cannot relate with her brother's apprehension with the nature of the contractual job which is to effectively scare off monkeys from the local streets of tony neighbourhoods of New Delhi and their official, governmental properties. As a professional monkey repeller, even having received basic but useless training from a fellow worker (played by a real monkey repeller), he struggles both at the job as well at understanding the idea of using vocal sounds to deter cunning, undisciplined, and sometimes scheming monkeys from occupying the streets and disturbing human activities. Although he comes off as a dimwit with a few tricks up his sleeve, he is unable to materialize in his job, giving us viewers a vantage look at rising unemployment in India due to lack of jobs, abundance of unskilled, unemployable individuals, and poverty.

Director Prateek Vats carves a realistic picture with his protagonist, a college dropout, who has trouble with authority as well as with the idea of an unconventional job that he didn't even know existed. But then this original drama with sporadic spurts of comedy, also notes the otherwise secure and conventional job of his brother-in-law. He is a security worker at an establishment, but when he is handed a firearm for better self defence, superstition and baser fear comes out of nowhere to clip his arms and income. Vats sheds light at the undesired situation this family quickly falls in even though there are "thousands of job vacancies ready to be filled" according to an online platform.

The mockery that the protagonist endures as well as the encounter with corrupt authority, garnished with animal rights, blind faith advocates who think monkeys are avatars of a popular monkey god, and self-righteous mobsters masquerading as animal rights activists with an assumed power of marauding human rights come together to make Eeb Allay Ooo! a satire of our times. It has some great writing and photography, which further edify its original content that is so rare in Indian cinema. Bharadwaj's performance sticks out as the highlight of the film which tends to go haywire in the middle and takes the easy way out with an open ending. But for its urgent description of the sorry state of employment in India, its associated elements, and borderline poverty make it a film worth catching. TN.

(Watched and reviewed at the We Are One Global Film Festival on YouTube. Curated by the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)

Maybe I'm quibbling over the definition of a word, but I thought this excellent film was a drama and a human interest story told with some humor and societal observations. I didn't think of it as satire at all. You want satire? Try Arjun Patiala, which spoofs almost every Indian cop movie ever made. Sorry to disagree with the other reviewers, mostly Indian and who must know better than I.

Came across this movies on YouTube as part of an Online Global Film Festival. It was a moving experience to say the least.

This is a story of a young man who arrived in Delhi recently to make his career. He lands a job that even 99.99% of Indians haven't even heard of - A monkey repeller in Delhi. A guy whose sole job is to scare off the monkeys from Delhi's government (or elite) buildings and public areas mimicking certain set of voices that form the title of the movie.

Witty, comical and original; this movie introduced me to some characters I had never imagined existed in real life. In these COVID times when problems of migrant crisis and unemployment are headlines in our country, the timing for this movie couldn't have been better.

It was almost ironic that the protagonist had all the good ideas of stopping the monkeys from causing havoc, but the complex web of various facets of our system wouldn't let him execute those ideas. You are good at your job and that's precisely you fear you'll lose it - Imagine that !!

The narrative about his pregnant sister's family also had a profound impact on me. It is not that her security guard husband or she is in a situation an Indian is totally new to, but the brutally realistic cinematography, perfect background score and life-like characters leave a imprint on your mind that makes you think about all those news articles you read about migrants or labourers. The themes of religion, politics, corruption and mob-lynching are also handled, without being pedantic, very delicately by the director.

I am still processing this movie in my head after it ended, and that is because I could experience it intimately - I think that's a kind of an effect only a brilliant piece of art can cause. Without being didactic and never losing its entertainment value, the director has certainly achieved what he set out to do. Kudos to him. I truly wish we see this kind of cinema even more in India. Best luck !!

Watching a lot of world cinema can often make us reach a state of 'I have seen it all', but movies like 'Eeb Allay Ooo' proves you wrong and thereby giving a breath of fresh air. The trick always lies in placing the same story in a different setup and explore the possibilities. It's easy to get excited by a unique idea, but how do you continue to dream when the core of your story involves the shooting of scenes which are not in your control? 'Eeb Allay Ooo' is not only an original film to have come out of India in a very very long time, but what makes it really unique is because it is almost impossible to translate this original idea into a film given the practical challenges of shooting many of scenes. Just think of shooting a scene of the protagonist trying to shoo away a wild monkey and it scares you back and you got to get it pitch-perfect? If I were the producer of the film, I would take 2 steps forward because I am excited about the original content, but will definitely take 4 steps backward considering the production challenges and that's exactly why this film is special.

India is a very unique place because we knowingly allow religious beliefs to impact our lives so much that sometimes it's problems trouble us on a daily basis and yet none comes forward to solve the resultant issues given our belief in the system of Karma. Unless you are an atheist, why would you want to commit 'paap' and make a direct path to hell? It doesn't make sense! Just like how cows are considered sacred in Hinduism, another animal that shares a special place in Hinduism is monkey as it is considered a representative of God Hanuman. Thanks to this belief, else this special movie would have never taken birth.

As per the unofficial census, monkeys are lakhs in numbers in Delhi urban space and a reason for many problems. They even have the power to bring down governments as they are often found in huge numbers in and around parliament and other important places of power. There have been reports of monkeys barging into govt offices and happily eating important files. Yet, nobody wants to do anything about it because it's a paap to kill monkeys. On the contrary, most people feed monkeys and that's probably why their numbers increased tremendously over time. Despite the number of people killed by monkey bites, the challenges they pose on a daily basis, they haven't become poll issues for politicians like women safety issues, lack of jobs and pollution etc. Well, which politician wants to take on God unless you never want to contest elections again?!!!

This is the story of Anjani, a poor 11th class out who migrates to Delhi from a remote village. His brother-in-law sets him up for a govt contract job and his job involves shooing away monkeys from important & high profile places like Rajpath, Nirman Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan and Vignan Bhavan etc. The problem is he doesn't how to shoo away monkeys without being bitten and that's where his mentor Mahinder teaches him the art of shooing away monkeys without causing any harm either to oneself or to the monkey. The tricks largely lies in not hurting the monkey, but it's okay if you are hurt. Poverty connects people and eventually they become best friends, but no matter how hard Anjani tries to learn the sounds of monkeys, he cannot perfect the art like his friend and that's exactly what puts him in trouble with his tough boss who is good at replacing the skill-less workers with more skilled at the first sight of trouble. Like many migrants coming to cities in the hope of a better life, neither he has skills to do something else nor can he go back to his village. The satire of the film is in the background of almost every scene without sounding repetitive, how this powerless and poor guy tries to shoo away monkeys from powerful places as nobody wants to disturb Hanuman ji's representative, let alone shooing them away. Caught between his inability to learn the right skills and the prospects of losing his only job, he tries innovative methods to do his job, including trying preventive methods. One of the satirical and poignant scenes of the movie is at the beginning of the early days of his job. Upon seeing a well-educated and tilak-wearing man feeding monkeys, he tries to warn him 'Sir, yahan pe e sab karna mana hain'. When the man replies back in English 'Who are you? What is your name?' and when he tries to call his boss, that's when he realizes that he is messing with the wrong guy. He quietly learns his place in this big city. Often we are all caught in this world just like him - we know what is the right thing to do and yet we cannot do it or we aren't allowed, but we are shown the exit door for being ineffective. The drama gets multi-dimensional when he sees his pregnant sister and brother-in-law trying every way to support him despite their meager means. To find out if he will see the other side of the world or will the city tear him apart is something you need to find out by watching this brilliantly shot film.

In the times of witnessing greatest migrant crisis in India, this film lets you experience the suffering of migrants on screen for 1 and 1/2 hour non-stop. It left me drained.

This film is yet again a testimony to great talent nurtured by FTII Pune for generations together. Brilliantly written, acted, shot, and edited, it rarely makes you take off your eyes. The eerie music elevates the film to another level. Hope this wins the best of awards out there!

Really enjoyed this wonderful, absorbing, thought-provoking film! Amazing imagery and genuine, compelling performances.