Monkey Man: Dev Patel 'wanted to create own fresh world'

Dev Patel is done with playing goofy characters and comedy sidekicks.

In his new film Monkey Man - which he starred in, directed and produced himself - Dev has created a British Asian action hero.

But he doesn't want it compared to James Bond.

"As a huge fan of the genre, I was so frustrated not to be represented," the actor, best known for his roles in Lion and Slumdog Millionaire, tells BBC Asian Network's Nikita Kanda.

From Hollywood to Bollywood, via Hong Kong, he says action cinema has skipped characters he could relate to.

"There was nothing in between that represented my existence, my identity, my duality of culture," says Dev, who has Gujarati Indian heritage and grew up in London.

"I just wanted to infuse all of the things that I ran away from as a child."

Enter Monkey Man, the action thriller which follows an anonymous protagonist dubbed 'Kid', as he hunts down a group responsible for his mother's death.

Dev's been working on the script for 12 years - "not that I'm counting," he says, adding that he became "a man possessed" as it took over his life.

He describes production as a "Trojan horse" - on the surface, it's an action film but "it has a lot to say".

"It's got a real political, social resonance. It's a revenge film about faith and how faith can be the most elegant weapon."

One thing it's not trying to be is James Bond.

"I don't want to be James Bond - I want to be Monkey Man," Dev says.

Since Daniel Craig retired his Bond in 2021, there's been endless speculation about who might replace him with some saying it's time for the British spy to be played by a non-white actor.

But Dev says with Monkey Man, he "wanted to create our own stories and our own fresh world".

"I wanted to broaden our horizons so we're not fighting over the same role."

He hopes as well that seeing a British Asian in an action film will open the gate for a wider diversity in roles.

"When I started writing this, the only roles I was getting offered were to be the comedy sidekick or the guy that hacks the [computer] mainframe for the big, cool guy," says Dev.

He started his career playing the hapless Anwar in Channel 4's teen drama Skins, and then starred in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire.

It wasn't until his 2016 role as Saroo in Lion, for which he received an Oscar nomination, that he says he felt he could move away from those stereotypes.

"That film was the first time I really got to be soulful on camera," he says.

"It really changed my career and made people see me differently than that goofy, awkward dude in Slumdog [Millionaire] and Skins."

Monkey Man was Dev's directorial debut and the first time he's been behind the camera as well as in front of it.

"It was a very chaotic process," he says, adding he'd only originally planned to be the lead actor.

"But I just wanted to make a film that young 14-year-old Dev would be proud and excited to see," he says.

"And we kind of stopped at nothing to do it."

That's not an exaggeration, as filming was disrupted by the pandemic and he says he "broke my hand in the first action scene".

"Everything that could have possibly gone wrong, went wrong for me."

It doesn't seem to have done too much damage as Monkey Man has picked up a string of positive reviews as well as a standing ovation at an early SXSW screening ahead of its UK release on Friday.

"I was sick and tired of seeing the same faces and the same franchises rehashed," Dev says.

"This is original, this is our culture, this is vibrant and I hope people go out and watch it and support it."

Watch Dev's full interview with Nikita Kanda on YouTube or listen back on BBC Sounds.

Listen to Ankur Desai's show on BBC Asian Network live from 15:00-18:00 Monday to Thursday - or listen back here.