Writer and Director: Nithilan Swaminathan

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Anurag Kashyap, Abhirami, Mamta Mohandas

Duration: 150 mins

Available in: Theatres

Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja is a film that follows Chekhov’s gun plot device to such a microscopic extent that forget about the rifle — one must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off, according to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov — even the nuts, bolts, bullets, barrel and every inch of the “gun” itself are rich with meaning. Most of all, they consciously tiptoe back to the screen to move Nithilan Swaminathan’s tightly written story forward.

Maharaja is an unusual film in that its sum of all parts is greater than the “whole”. In a film that has powerhouse performers such as Vijay Sethupathi who plays the titular character (he is sublime as a gentle father whose marriage is cut short by tragedy), Natty (an actor who sits quite comfortably on his role as a swindling cop reminiscent of his part in the clever Sathuranga Vettai), and Anurag Kashyap (a doting dad with a rogue side, who shares a few things in common with Maharaja), Nithilan’s thriller manages to almost achieve the unthinkable. It pivots away from star service to make its screenplay the hero. A hero that always thinks ten steps ahead into the future.

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