''Murder at Monkey Hill'' is

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n film written and directed by

Vidhu Vinod Chopra Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, lyricist and actor. His well-known films as director are ''Parinda'' (1988), '' 1942: A Love Story'' (1994). He is also known for producing ' ...

. The short film in

Black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

was made by Vidhu Vinod Chopra as his final project while doing his diploma at FTII. Vinod Chopra, himself, played the lead role with

Anjali Paigankar Anjali Paigankar is a Hindi and Marathi film actress. A graduate of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Anjali appeared in ''Murder at Monkey Hill'', Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s diploma film as a final year student there in 1976. ...

while

Dilip Dhawan Dilip Dhawan (1955 – 15 February 2000) was an Indian film and television actor. He started his career as a child in '' Sangharsh'' (1968), featuring Dilip Kumar, Dhawan acted in over 50 films. Career He acted as the hero in the movie ''Arvin ...

and Mehmood (not the famous Bollywood comedy actor) made short appearances in the film. Vidhu's 1981 movie ''

Sazaye Maut ''Sazā-ye Maut'' (English: Death Penalty) is 1981 Indian film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The films was based on Chopra's diploma film at FTII, ''Murder at Monkey Hill'' (1976). He adapted that into a full-length feature, with ...

'' 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.

Cast

as Akhtar *

as Prabhi *

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. It also won recognition at the Montreal and Leipzig film festivals.

References

External links

* 1970s Hindi-language films Indian short films Films directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra Indian black-and-white films {{1970s-Hindi-film-stub