On Netflix, there are 2 films with almost the same title that are being streamed presently. One is Maharaj – a Hindi film and the other is Maharaja, a Tamil film. This review is about the Tamil film with Vijay Sethupathi in the lead in what happens to be his 50th film. He makes a good choice for this outing in terms of script, unlike many of his recent past choices. The film is fairly engaging throughout despite being a slow-burn type.
As a one-liner, the film’s story is pretty straightforward. It is basically a saga of a revenge-seeking dad against those who wreck his teenage daughter’s life. But what makes the film different and therefore engaging, is the style of storytelling. Director Nithilan Swaminathan gives a lot of attention to the screenplay and plot points to keep “surprise” as the pivot around which the film unfolds. The element of surprise runs through right from the opening scene to the climax. The storytelling goes back and forth in time almost like a hyperlink cinema like Super Deluxe. Frankly speaking, it was a bit difficult to decipher the timelines unless one paid close attention to what was happening without distractions. Therefore, I am not surprised that the film was a theatrical hit where you tend to stay focussed on the large screen in front of you and not the mobile screens.
When Sethupathi’s character – quirkily named Maharaja comes to the police station wanting to register a complaint for a missing “Lakshmi” which is a dustbin and spends days and over putting up with insults and physical taunts, you know that a Baasha-type eruption scene is bound to unfold. That happens almost 1 hour into the film. Even as we see many other disjointed happenings in parallel, it is only after the halfway mark that we get to join the dots of the unfolding revenge saga. When Sethupathi keeps on repeating his story to many people one by one, you get reminded of the Karagattakaaran vazhaipazha comedy sequence.
There are only 2 things the Director has bet on mainly for this film. One, of course, is the script. It is a very well thought out and written screenplay – one that overestimates the intelligence of the viewer. Swaminathan walks a tightrope here and manages to retain the element of surprise throughout. The climax is conceived and executed powerfully which is the highlight of the film.
Swaminathan’s second bet is Sethupathi. And he delivers. Sethupathi in his usual style of restraint, delivers a top-notch performance. As a commoner in his youthful role, then the doting dad of a teenage daughter later and eventually the revenge-seeking but undemonstrative angry father, Sethupathi gets the meter right without putting too much effort. He does all these with his same sombre voice and delivery style.
Anurag Kashyap as the antagonist does a decent job, notwithstanding the dubbing and syncing issues. Nat Subramaniam who comes in as the inspector is another one who makes a mark. The women characters including that of Mamta Mohandas don’t have much to do.
The film has a lot of bloodletting and crude violence with a capital V. The writing is so sophisticated that some aspects are not able to connect. I for one couldn’t get the repeated ‘snake’ references and also how Sethupathi reaches the 1st antagonist till I went back and cross-checked. The film’s humour in the 1st half does not land at all. The team of robbers and killers is shown cooking and eating food at places where they do the crime is a put-off. This is shown repetitively and one doesn’t get the underlying logic of the same.
But credit to the director for keeping the proceedings focussed on the story at hand without needless distractions like a love angle or a song-dance routine etc for the heck of it. The teenage girl’s characterisation as a smart, intelligent kid who doesn’t get bogged down is also well-conceived.
The film’s title takes from the name of the protagonist Maharaja. The Director leaves it to our imagination as to why his parents chose to name him such. We get an idea in the last frames of the film when he turns back and says that it is “his daughter” and walks away like a king.
Maharaja is streaming now on Netflix and in the crowded space of “revenge dramas”, Maharaja stands out for its storytelling style and is a Good Watch.
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