Maharaja is a Tamil film which released on June 14 and stars Vijay Sethupathi in the lead. It is about a barber whose house is robbed and what happens next. The film’s biggest strength is its screenplay by Nithilan Swaminathan. He uses an interesting trick in storytelling and it elevates the impact. One can never even anticipate what’ll happen next. The credit also goes to his direction as it keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats. Though Nithilan Swaminathan tries his best, the narrative does get a bit confusing at times and one might have to read the plot on Wikipedia or watch the film again to understand the plot better. Vijay Sethupathi, as expected, is terrific and there’s no doubt that he’s one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. Anurag Kashyap, too, puts his best foot forward. Sachana Namidass (Jyothi), Manikandan (Dhana) and Singampuli (Nallasivam) leave a huge mark. Natarajan Subramaniam (Inspector S Varadharajan) is very impressive. All in all, Maharaja is a must watch for its unique narrative style. It is running successfully in cinemas and will be out on Netflix on July 12.
My rating – **** out of 5!