In this episode of Start Action Cut, Swathi and Padmakumar are analysing the Tamil movie Maharaja directed by Nithilan Swaminathan with Vijay Sethupathi and Anurag Kashyap playing lead roles.
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[00:00:00] Hi, welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the Tamil movie, Maharaja, written and directed by Nitin Swaminathan with Vijay Sethupathi and Anurag Kashyap playing lead roles. This film is actually the second film of the director,
[00:00:33] the first one being Kurangam Omayya, which was also a very brilliant movie. And this movie also has Abhirami, Mamatha Mohan Das, Bharati Raja, Manish Khand, Natarajan Subramanian, Singampuli, Arul Doss, Dalyan Manikandan and Satchita Navitas. So Swathi is here
[00:00:55] to discuss the film. Swathi, the theme is, it's the same crime story, it is the same story of crime meted out to the loved one and the revenge drama. Maharaja, the protagonist, is a barber who
[00:01:13] lives with his teenage daughter in the secluded corner of a city. And he's a man of few words and a peculiar character while dealing with injustice. And how he follows the perpetrators
[00:01:26] is the theme of the movie. So how was the movie for you? Did you enjoy it? How was it? But Mukmar, I did enjoy the movie. And like you said, it's essentially a slow burning
[00:01:37] revenge drama. And the storyline isn't something entirely new. However, it serves as a fitting milestone to Vijay Sethupathi's 50th film. And in this film, I think he's delivered a very subtle yet powerful performance. So while the story has its charm, the predictability somewhat
[00:01:55] detracts from the overall viewing experience is what I felt. I think Tamil cinema recently has been taking up many socially relevant topics and the topic that Maharaja deals with also follows the same pattern like gross injustice done to a teenage girl and how her father
[00:02:14] retaliates. That's the basic plot. So Maharaja's life revolves around two aspects, his duty to do his everyday job and to look after his daughter Jyothi. Come what may, he's very adamant on that. His life doesn't wear from these two aspects and it runs like clockwork.
[00:02:33] So it becomes intriguing as to why he's at a police station asking the cops to find Lakshmi, which we realized the dustbin and what's happening in his life. I think Vijay Sethupathi is definitely the anchoring factor that holds the movie together. I think Anurag also played
[00:02:49] a very commendable job but we'll come to that later. I felt like there were some dubbing issues with this character. But overall, I really liked the movie. But like I said, it was very predictable. That was the fault that I felt with the movie.
[00:03:03] Yes, I feel that the narrative style is the saving grace for the film because we see that it's in a different pattern though the movie is telling the same story of crime and revenge.
[00:03:16] It has a new style of unraveling the plot. There is nothing new in it except for a few aspects in the style. So what do you say about the narrative style of the movie? The movie follows a nonlinear approach in its storytelling, making the first half quite
[00:03:35] confusing. It felt like so many things were happening and only in the second half did things start to make sense for me. So as a result, I was more invested in the second half
[00:03:44] of the movie. I felt the makers could have simplified the plot progression in the first half as it seemed unnecessarily complicated. What happens in the second half is the plot
[00:03:54] becomes a bit too predictable, like I said. But I didn't feel like it had a major impact on the movie. It was still interesting. And I think director Nitil and Swaminathan takes his time
[00:04:05] to build a world that helps us understand and become curious about Maharaja. And that is what the first half is essentially about, the world building. I wouldn't say character building because we don't really get to understand the villains as much. Maharaja, we do understand
[00:04:21] him quite a bit, but there is no much info about his backstory or much details about him. But still his character seems intriguing. And obviously, like I said, why Lakshmi is important and we feel curious as to what's happening. But the first half, it's really difficult to understand
[00:04:39] that there might be something really traumatic because there's a lot of dark comedy also going on in the first half. And second half, I think the movie takes a bit more faster pace and
[00:04:50] then it starts to become interesting. But the climax, I wouldn't say it was mind boggling or something. It was definitely interesting. But I could just sense that this was what was going to happen from the second half, the second half itself, because the way the movie was
[00:05:03] progressing, it was a bit too predictable, I would say. I mean, we could really sketch out what's happening and what's exactly going to happen. And that was exactly what happened as well. Yeah, I do like the way the movie progresses. First you see that the movie is
[00:05:21] going ahead in a simple manner and then later you find out the real business, the real issue in the movie later on. As you said, in the first half it's a bit comical and it's a very
[00:05:35] simplistic way of telling the story. So the real things, the real issues develop in the second half. So the first second half is more or less good. I mean, it's a better portion of the movie that you can enjoy much. So now coming to the performance,
[00:05:55] I think Vijay Sethupathi no doubt showcases a brilliant role here. And there are moments which take us by surprise while when he portrays the character of Maharaja. So what's most striking about his portrayal of characters is the immense control he
[00:06:18] wields over them. But here the control seems to subsume his emotional nuances. So I think his performance was, of course, brilliant, but I wouldn't say that it was mind-boggling or as a milestone. But here in this film, who for me, who stole the show was
[00:06:37] Singampuli, the lecherous criminal who has to mask himself in several shades of disposition. And I think a few corrections of the course of his depiction would have made his character an outstanding one. You have fear about this character and you detest him all along.
[00:06:59] So that is what I think about the characterization of the movie. And rest of all, Anurag Kashyap did play his role well, but that was not exceptional. That is what I feel. So what do you say about the performance of the actors?
[00:07:14] Well, Patmogumar, like you said, Vijay Sethupathi for me truly, I felt like he truly led the movie. I don't know if I could agree with you that he was not exceptional because I felt like
[00:07:24] he was playing a character that he's not played before. One aspect he needed to nail in this role, and I think I wrote this in the review as well, is that Maharaja is somebody who
[00:07:34] is very grounded. He's a man of few words, like you said before, but he's also very peculiar in the way he acts. And he's very emotional and he's also powerful, physically powerful also. So there's something intriguing about Maharaja's behavior and that I think Vijay has nailed it
[00:07:52] with his performance. And I agree to you with Singampuli's performance. He was really outstanding. I mean, he is cunning. He has this evil nature. There is this scene where he smiles when he's narrating whatever that's happened in the house and there is this menacing smile
[00:08:10] that he gives out. And that I felt was a peak performance because that was a true villainish performance that he put out and it was really nice. Coming to Anurag Kashyap, I had my doubts whether he could pull off a character, pull off a Tamil speaking,
[00:08:25] Tamil character because he's somebody from the North. But I, to an extent, felt like he did play his character really well because there were obviously the mismatch between the dialogue delivery and the mouth movements. But I think he did perform in a decent way according to
[00:08:43] the instructions that he was given. That is what I felt. Yeah. I didn't feel that mismatch of delivering on the dialogues and the lip movements. Maybe I couldn't detect them,
[00:08:55] but I feel he did. Of course, as you said, he did offer a very decent show and the female characters, they didn't have much to offer, whether it's Abhirami or Mamta. And I like the character played by Sachinna as Maharaja's daughter Jyothi. No, it was not such a
[00:09:17] remarkable performance, but I think she did justice to the character. So now I would like to point out certain flaws that this movie, I mean, in my view, I think they couldn't have done away with those things because there is a main pillars
[00:09:37] on which the movie is standing. Like the cliched theme is one thing. It's in no way distanced from the Tamil noir thriller you have seen over the years. And then, of course, the predictability that you had mentioned earlier, there is a foremost drawback in this film.
[00:09:56] But all those shortcomings, I think, have been salvaged by the narrative style. Then there are certain comical scenes in the first half which went overboard and fizzled out. So they would have done away with those things. And those were the flaws. How would you, at least the
[00:10:18] drawbacks, the things that stood out in this movie? I felt a little bit uncomfortable watching the excess violence in the movie and the portrayal of violence in the movie becomes somewhat kind of repetitive because the willingness nature of these antagonists relies
[00:10:36] heavily on their vile acts, so the violence against women. I feel like that is a cliche formula that many movies use because if a filmmaker truly wants the audience to hate the villain, they'll include some rape scenes or violence against women. That has become sort of
[00:10:52] like the common practice these days. So these were the kind of, I don't know if these have flaws, but these are two things that I've noticed in the movie. Yeah, Swati, actually those scenes are too heavy. I mean, those depictions of violence, excess violence is
[00:11:07] too common in movies that we see in these days. So I don't know if there can be any rule or any statutory norms to curb such things in movies. Like the way we had mentioned this one earlier
[00:11:24] too, to a great extent these films do have an influence on young people and the general public. So I do disagree with the depiction of violence. I mean, there is one scene in which a person is
[00:11:40] beheaded. So such things are actually gory and I wouldn't be able to enjoy such moments. Even if those were not there, the movie with its theme and subject would have satisfied my cinematic interest. So those were the things that I would like to mention about this movie.
[00:12:02] I felt like the filmmakers could have drawn a boundary when it comes to violence. I think they went overboard with the violence because to see, obviously they're showing a very wild,
[00:12:14] gory thing that the attack against that little girl. But I felt like it was a bit too much to show them kicking and attacking with rods and even the beheading scene and the arm cutting
[00:12:25] all of those scenes were a little too graphic. I just felt really uncomfortable watching those movies and I felt like the makers went overboard with the violent sequences. Yeah, and also one more thing in this film is the flashbacks. There are two types of
[00:12:42] flashbacks in this movie. One is long distance and one is short ones. So there was no demarcation to register the difference, to distinguish between what is happening when and who is what and such things. Had there been some distinct borders between those flashbacks, it would have
[00:13:03] been easier for us to understand the story better. So that's what I feel. But still, the movie can be enjoyed because of the devices employed in narrating the tale and the novel method of unveiling the plot. And then Dinesh Purushottaman's camera
[00:13:24] that captures the hues and steam of the drama and of course Ajani Shloknath's intense music. So all these make for a good watch regarding this film. What do you say? For me, I think like you said, it's the way the movie progresses and the devices that
[00:13:42] has been used in the movie that makes it enjoyable. Even though it gets predictable, I think there is something about the movie that still hooks you in. You'd still want to know what happens even though you know what is going to happen. And even though I did not
[00:13:57] personally like the violent sequences as such, I think that also played an important role in elevating the movie to reach the climax sequence. And this is something that I wrote in the review also. The climax scenes were very predictable, but I did not feel like that
[00:14:13] took away the impact that it intended to have because I think maybe it's because of the performances and the background score. It all played an important role in creating an impactful climax. And yeah, I think the performances or the way the story progresses,
[00:14:30] I think that's what made me like the movie. And also the actors who played as police officers did well in narrating the tale very interestingly and the way they investigated the crime. And if I will watch this film once again, I'll be watching it for just one
[00:14:50] moment in the film, which was rendered by Vijay Sethupathi while narrating the tale to the police officer towards the end of the film. So it gives a very great, intense cinematic thrill. And that's one moment that you would enjoy after watching the film.
[00:15:11] So that brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks for listening to Start Action Cut produced and hosted by me, Pat Mogamar with technical production by Idea Blue Studios. Follow www.onmanorama.com for more podcasts from movies and be sure to come back
[00:15:29] for the next episode of Start Action Cut out on Monday. Thank you.