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| “ | Anger will not quiet your soul, my son. | „ |
| ~ Baba to Kid. |
| “ | Baba: You can't...these people need me. Please, I'll give you what you want! I'll do anything! Forgive me! H-h-have mercy, please! Monkey Man: Only God can forgive you now. |
„ |
| ~ Shakti's last words before being killed by Monkey Man |
Baba Shakti is the main antagonist of Dev Patel's 2024 action thriller film Monkey Man.
He was a tyrannical spiritual guru who, in his pursuit of wealth and power, was responsible for the destruction and genocide of numerous villages and non-hindu communities across India, including that of Kid/Monkey Man. Thus labeling him, alongside Rana Singh, as one of Kid's two archenemies to the film event.
He was portrayed by Makarand Deshpande.
Personality[]
Baba is highly charismatic, manipulative, selfish, egotistical, self-aggrandizing, hypocritical, and merciless. Despite his immense ego, he is also weighed down by insecurities due to his origins in the poor slums, and as such takes offense whenever someone even inadvertently reminds him of it. While the methods of his advancement were unethical and even criminal, he holds a perverse sense of pride in his accomplishments.
Baba is a fraud who preaches about compassion, yet simultaneously puts his support behind a bigoted, nationalistic, fascist political group; despite the contradiction of a supposed neutral guru supporting a nationalistic, plutocratic and classist politician, none of his supporters manage to see this cognitive dissonance, due to many harboring hateful views themselves or merely being thoroughly blinded by his charisma - which is especially ironic considering many are poor and will suffer under the policies of the new leader of the country.
Baba is extremely cowardly, as upon hearing of Kid's disruption, he is terrified that his entire operation could be threatened; another element is that Kid is a child of the slums like he was, thus knowing what he achieved himself makes him paranoid of a challenger from a similar background.
While he preaches of peace, he directs his allies in the police force to enact terrible violence to expand his territory and influence, lacking any compassion for the people whose lives he ruins and takes. When Kid finally confronts him, Baba tries to use a parable of peace to dissuade the young man's vengeance; however, what he was really doing was distracting Kid so he could get close to him.
Baba presents his shoes to Kid, which have engravings asking for forgiveness from the bugs stepped beneath them - which reveals less his intent about asking for forgiveness and more the fact that he considered every life he crushed on his way to power as nothing but insects beneath his feet. His supposed promotion for peace is also revealed to be entirely a lie, as he pulls hidden daggers he had kept in his padukas (shoes), and tries to kill Kid. While Baba manages a seemingly lethal wound, Kid overpowers him, then stabs him with his own blades.
In a final display of Baba's hypocrisy, he begs Kid for mercy, begging for his life, while trying to offer any material possession or position, which is ironic considering how many pleas for mercy that Baba ignored to keep his power.
At the end of the day, Baba's downfall is very ironic since he achieved his power and influence as a street urchin only to die by a hand of another street urchin. This clearly shows that the true reason of his downfall is simply that he has forgotten where he came from.
Biography[]
Many years ago, Baba Shakti was born in extreme poverty. Whether he grew up with family or alone is unclear, although it seems to be the latter, since he doggedly crawled his way out of destitution, eventually establishing himself as one of the nation's most respected and beloved gurus, amassing a following of possibly millions. Eventually, power and influence have made him forget a man he used to be and he looked down on lower class people, instead of helping them. In his base of operations, the city of Yatana, Baba also built connections with the criminal underworld, which may explain the origin of his wealth, and also built connections with the corrupt police force, unofficially appointing the chief, Rana Singh, as his right hand man.
Around 10 or so years prior to the film's present, he sought to expand his assets, so Baba assigned Rana and a squadron of dirty cops to wipe out a village, which was the home of the boy known in the film as Kid. It isn't apparent if Baba specified how the village would to be cleared, however, he didn't care how much suffering was wrought, so was indifferent to Rana's methods of rape, firing squads, and arson.
After claiming the land, Baba constructed a factory upon it, which was still in operation by the present of the film; in contrast to his public persona of generosity and understanding, he would force his employees to work like slaves, with scarce pay and less free time - when questioned by the media about it, he would deflect the questions, delusionally or deceitfully claiming that they weren't overworked, but being rewarded, and they weren't employees, but "followers."
Kid, unaware of Baba's culpability, had planned his life on avenging the deaths of his mother and village against police chief, Rana. While Kid was methodical in infiltrating the criminal tower called Kings that housed a luxury brothel, his emotions eventually overruled his logic, thus he attempted to shoot Rana in a VIP bathroom. Kid failed and also exposed himself, which drove the criminals and crooked cops alike to pursue him; Kid initially escapes custody by killing four cops in a paddy wagon, yet the police expanded their search to track him.
Kid's escape lead him into a far cheaper brothel, with the pimp so angered that he brought police attention that he tried to kill him with an axe; Kid managed to kill the pimp instead and fled back into the streets. Kid makes his way across rooftops, but he is shot by snipers, after which he plummets into the river. The police and criminals presume he had died, either from the bullet or drowning. When reporting these events to Baba, Rana concluded that Kid was definitely dead, and dismissed his threat as nothing, since he was a street rat; Baba, while subdued, was angered in his reply about how Kid shouldn't be underestimated, since Baba himself was once a street rat, which Rana clumsily agreed.
As Baba predicted, Kid had in fact survived his ordeal. Kid was rescued by a non-binary known as Alpha, the keeper of a local temple of Ardhanarishvara, whose already exiled hijra community are being further targeted by the growing supremacist political movement championed by Baba. Through hallucinogenic drugs and meditation, Kid comes to term with his grief to an extent, and achieves a sense of equilibrium, akin to the one that Baba fraudulently claims for himself. The hijra help Kid in his training, so he acquires skill and strength, rather than relying on the raw, unfocused emotion he had done before. Alpha helps Kid realise that Rana wasn't the master-planner behind the destruction of his village, rather Rana was merely an instrument of Baba's greed and ambition.
Kid re-enters the underground bare-knuckle boxing matches he had previously predominantly lost, and has a street urchin to bet on him; with his enlightened mind and mastered training, Kid is able to easily dispatch his opponents. Kid gives his winnings to the hijra with a message to inspire them to reclaim their homes.
Adesh Joshi, the ultra-nationalist candidate that had Baba's support won the election in a landslide, thereby the streets are crowded with celebration, with the wealthy criminals and corrupt cops having their own at Kings. Kid again infiltrates the building, killing guards along the way; when it seemed like he would be overwhelmed by numbers, the hijra lead by Alpha arrive in ceremonial dresses, and wielding scythe-like blades. Together, they cut a bloody path through the henchmen; eventually the tides turn to be against the criminals, thus Alpha instructs Kid to ascend the tower, to finally execute Baba.
Exiting the elevator into the VIP room, Kid faces Rana alone; they engage in a brutal and bloody fist-fight, which doesn't have a clear advantage for either combatant. However, Kid defeats Rana, then beats the corrupt lawman to death. Kid takes another, private elevator - unlocked with the thumb print of the detached digit he took from Queenie, the cruel madam of the brothel.
Kid enters Baba's penthouse, where the guru is simply soaking his feet in a pool. Baba begins sermonising about how everyone is happy from his actions, which he indicates by pointing at the fireworks visible from the window. Baba attempts to dissuade Kid's desire for revenge, noting that should the young man kill the guru, the cycle of violence will continue, but should he abstain, they can move beyond violence together. While Kid is unconvinced, he lowers his guard at the seemingly helpless older man approaches him unarmed.
Baba presents his removed padukas (shoes), explaining that the etchings along them are asking for forgiveness from the bugs that they may unknowingly crush. Despite his claims for peace, Baba revealed hidden daggers - hidden in his padukas - and attacked Kid; Baba managed to deliver an evidently fatal wound, however, Kid overpowered him, grabbing the blades himself, which he uses to repeatedly stab the false guru. Back on the ground, Baba begs for Kid to stop his attack, bargaining that anything he wants will be his; when Kid doesn't respond, Baba begs for mercy, to which Kid responds that only god can offer mercy now, thus Kid stabs a blade into Baba's forehead, ramming it into his brain, finally killing him, ending his reign and avenging his mother and villagers.
A vast swath of the corrupt police force, including its chief Rana, and multitudes of the criminal henchmen had been killed, and Baba himself being dead means none are left to command his cult; however, Baba's legacy still persists in the appointment of Adesh Joshi, as the nationalist supremacist will enact policies that will further damage the working class, enrich the elite, and persecute those already suffering from exile. While Kid managed to rally his own groups of supporters, it might not match the millions of Baba's followers who will now see him as a martyr, plus the aforementioned nationalistic bigot in charge of the country.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Kid can be considered as the reflection of Baba Shaki's himself when he was a young street urchin who tried his every ways to climb to wealth and power much like how Kid does everything to claim his chance of vengeance against Baba.