Maharaj Review: Impactful premise let down by poor execution
Maharaj Movie Rating: 2.5 Stars
Watched Maharaj movie on Netflix. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Jaideep Ahlawat, Junaid Khan, Shalini Pandey, Sharvari and Jay Upadhyay
Director: Siddharth P Malhotra
Release Date: 21st June 2024 on Netflix
Story: This film is based on Saurabh Shah‘s book Maharaj, which revolves around the 1862 Maharaj libel case fought in the Bombay High Court. Movie revolves around renowned journalist and social worker Karsandas Mulji (Junaid Khan) who raised his voice against the societal malpractices of the time since childhood.
Yadunath Maharaj (Jaideep Ahlawat) is a Hindu temple priest who misuses his position and sexually exploits young girls in the name of religion. Karsan is engaged to Kishori (Shalini Pandey) and they are all set to marry. She is big devotee of Maharaj.
Karsandas discovers that most of the women in society including his fiancée are JJ’s victims and decides to bring him down. He couldn’t remain silent and used both his voice and pen to fight back. But the journey is full of challenges and demands enormous sacrifices. Maharaj filed a defamation case against him What happened next is all about this movie.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Climax
3. Story
4. Dialogues
Negatives
1. Music
2. Screenplay
3. Direction
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie in my free time as there are controversies, and this is debut movie of superstar Aamir Khan’s son debut film.
Set in pre-independence era, the film is based on the life of Gujarati journalist and social reformer Karsandas Mulji. The precocious youngster waged a battle against superstition and blind faith by exposing a religious leader Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj for sexually exploiting his female followers under the pretense of religious practices. This led to the landmark libel case of 1862.
Maharaj is a part historical and part Court-room drama that envisages a very strong and relevant premise. i.e, the difference between faith and fanaticism, reasonable and unreasonable, and most importantly normalized exploitation of religion through deification. The journey of Karsandas from being a kid to a young man who can sacrifice anything for the cause he believes in makes you root for his character. The writers and director make no compromise in presenting the atrocities of JJ’s character on society and balance it well with regular reminders that the film is only against people who exploit religion and not against religion. There are several points where we see Karsandas logically explaining the difference between being religious and mindlessly following fake godmen. Good Intentions solely don’t result in a good film, but misfires and Maharaj unfortunately becomes one in the process. The film neither works as a launch vehicle for Junaid Khan nor as a relevant historic drama. The only take away from the film is Jaideep Ahlawat’s and Sharvari Wagh’s presence.
On the flipside. it tries to tackle a subject that’s extremely volatile and undeniably relevant in today’s times where superstitions are prevalent and self-proclaimed godmen hold influence even in a country’s politics. But it doesn’t make a wise and powerful commentary on the same. It merely translates the written material into school-play aesthetics, worsened by etiolated acting performances. Direction is average. He fails to include any scene that truly stands out. It feels like the film was just directed without any particular vision or impact. The court drama could’ve had more impact if it got a little more share in the screenplay.
Movie is about one extraordinary man’s fight against a powerful spiritual guru. It is also about an all-out battle between religious manipulation and individual resistance. But the film also addresses several other significant themes that have relevance across time and societies. Sadly, its insipid storytelling douses the fire of its premise. My view on this movie Time Pass.
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