AUSTIN, TEXAS – For his directorial debut, Dev Patel was inspired by a figure from his childhood – Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god.

Opening in Singapore cinemas on April 4, Monkey Man – an English-language action thriller set in Mumbai – stars the Indian-British actor as a man seeking revenge against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother.

But in his violent campaign for vengeance, he finds himself becoming an unlikely saviour to the poor and the weak.

Speaking at the recent South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, Patel says he first heard the myth of Hanuman – the monkey-like Hindu deity known for his strength, courage and loyalty – in bedtime stories told by his grandfather.

“We used to sit in bed and my granddad would tell me the story of Hanuman from the mythology of the (Hindu epic poem) Ramayana.

“And he really captivated me. He’s kind of an emblem for my father and the men in my family,” says Patel. He shot to fame playing a boy from Mumbai’s slums in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

The 33-year-old – who also co-wrote the screenplay – wanted to convey the cultural significance Hanuman has in India.

For instance, gyms in the country will put up images of the deity next to those of former international champion bodybuilders.

“If you go to a gym in India, there’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman and Hanuman,” Patel says.

“And when I was growing up, that iconography of this being who was super strong, could hold mountains in one hand and split his chest open reminded me of the iconography of Superman.”

“I was, like, ‘This is amazing, I wish the world knew about it. Maybe we can ground this and do something with it’,” says Patel, who received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in the biographical drama Lion (2016).

“Because when you go deep into it, he’s a guy who’s lost faith in himself and has to be reminded of who he was.”

Patel’s character, who is known only as Kid, works in an underground fight club run by a man named Tiger (Sharlto Copley), and is regularly beaten to a pulp by more popular fighters – all the while wearing a monkey mask.

With its stylised and bloody action scenes, Monkey Man has been compared with the hyper-violent John Wick film franchise (2014 to present) starring Canadian actor Keanu Reeves.

But Patel instead cites Asian action flicks, such as Game Of Death (1978) – a crime drama starring Hong Kong martial arts legend Bruce Lee – and the 2011 Indonesian action thriller The Raid, as key influences.

“In Game Of Death and The Raid, you see the whole concept of a character working his way up a building of some sort,” Patel says of Monkey Man’s extended action sequences.

He also hopes the story will serve as a social commentary.

“I wanted to touch on the caste system in India – the idea that you have the poor at the bottom slaving away in these kitchens, then you go up to the land of the kings and, above them, is a man-made god that’s polluting and corrupting religion.”

Copley, who had worked with Patel on the science-fiction actioner Chappie (2015), recalls the hours-long dinner where Patel convinced him to join the Monkey Man cast.

“He pitched the whole thing, from beginning to end. He started pitching the shots, and I’d already said yes,” says the 50-year-old South African actor, who also starred in the science-fiction film District 9 (2009).

The South by Southwest film festival is the first time Copley has seen the finished movie, which has garnered glowing reviews, with a 93 per cent Tomatometer rating on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

“And I am blown away,” he says.

Of Patel, he adds: “I had a feeling this guy was going to be a real auteur from the way he was pitching it. And I’m pleased to say it’s exactly like I imagined.”

• Monkey Man opens in Singapore cinemas on April 4.