The film stars Vijay Sethupathi, Anurag Kashyap, Natty Subramanian, Mamta Mohandas, Abhirami. The screenplay is so mechanically constructed that the emotional impact is muted.
After Kurangu Bommai and now Maharaja, I think we can say that Nithilan Saminathan is a plot-based filmmaker – as opposed to a character-based filmmaker. This is not to say that a film that depends on plot cannot have solid character arcs, or that a character-based drama does not need a plot. But Nithilan’s films are so intricately constructed that surprise is everything to him, and this “big reveal” is attained by construction and contrivance meant to shock the audience. In Kurangu Bommai, this technique of hiding information and slowly revealing just what needs to be revealed worked relatively well. And – strangely, for that plot-based movie – it was the relationship between the characters played by Bharathiraja and PL Thenappan that gave the film its soul. That big monologue by the Bharathiraja character – that was everything. It established a friendship that defined the whole movie, from the breakup of an alliance at the beginning to the villain’s plight at the end.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/tamil/movie/review/maharaja/
You can watch the trailer / video review here:
Copyright ©2024 GALATTA.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Isai
June 14, 2024
This movie doesn’t justify the praise it has been getting in social media after the press reviews. I watched Kurangu Bommai on the first day after such early reviews and remember the movie as average and unmemorable. Ditto with Maharaja. It has a good screenplay plotwise and is well edited. But, the characters don’t have enough character and hence we don’t feel much for any of them. Also, I understood the climax immediately when the event is first shown. So, it was even more disappointing.
More problematically, it’s portrayal of women is very annoying. Ashameera articulates it really well ( 02:53 https://youtu.be/LxEtsBPLUP4 )
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Anonymous Man
June 15, 2024
Isai – I agree with that reviewer’s overall point that rape is bad because women are human and not just because they could be someone’s daughter, mother, etc. But I think the message is justified in this particular movie, because of the characters in question.
Right at the outset, Anurag and his cohorts are shown as remorseless, heartless monsters who do not feel bad about what they do. A message like ‘rape is bad because women are human beings’ can only work on people who commit emotional crimes or commit crimes under extraordinary circumstances. These are monsters who do not have an iota of compassion for other human beings. In fact, I would say that Anurag and his cohorts do not consider others as human beings at all. In such a scenario, the only way you can make them feel the pain they deserve is to put them in the same situation. In this context, the question ‘how would you feel if it happened to your own daughter, sister, etc’ is justified.
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Anonymous Man
June 15, 2024
And by the way, BR, I thought you might single out and highlight Singampuli’s acting, which I thought was really good, in your review. Especially the part where he reconstructs the crime was chilling.
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hari prasad
June 15, 2024
I liked Maharaja for the most part , as the above conmentor said that he smelled the ending of the movie at the beginning , the movie was predictable as hell but I wasn’t mad nor I went ballistic over Nithilan , it more than made it up for those “wow” moments.
You know a movie has pulled you inside its world and you’re enjoying it , when you realize that the Sathyam main screen was empty at the end.
A major question for people who watched this movie , we know how VJS is related to the main villain and the second villain but what’s his issue with the Boys Manikandan character? , it wasn’t explored.
Some Vijay Sethupathi filmography homages I spotted in this movie:
VJS casually shrugging and walking away after a beatdown at the police station – That bar fight scene from Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum.
The fact that the second villain knows about the hero but the fact that the hero has never even seen the second villain – The second half of Master where Bhavani knows everything about JD but JD only knowing Bhavani’s existence and not his appearance.
3.VJS narrating a story repeatedly and the people around him getting annoyed – you all know what movie it was.
His look reminded (only me I guess) of his old bum look from 96.
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Anonymous Man
June 15, 2024
Hari Prasad – The Boys Manikandan character is described as a hooligan and a criminal with a long record right at the beginning (the scene in the mechanic shop). Anurag and Manikandan become friends while serving time together and Mani offers to help Anurag kill VJS. Mani is one of the three people who break into VJS home and physically assault his daughter (the other two being Anurag and Singampuli).
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Isai
June 15, 2024
Regarding Manikandan, IIRC VJS sees a petrol bill left behind by the rapists, traces the car’s owner in the bar and through him, follows Manikandan. But, Manikandan voluntarily giving him clue about his kootaali, which leads to the CORE police station surveillance sequence, was a disappointing contrivance.
A man needs food, but it is wrong to take another man’s food because it doesn’t belong to him. Same with money. This movie seems to say the same thing about sex. The needless disgusting scene where Singam Puli rapes again shows that the movie doesn’t give as much as importance to a woman as it seems to give to a man and his “needs”. Because men never get raped by women, the director is unable to emphatise with how a woman must be feeling watching these scenes and solely focuses on his point about teaching the “evil man” a lesson. Can’t the same point have been made by maiming a male child instead of raping a girl child?
I wonder what the director feels about marital rape. Even from a business sense, this movie won’t work IMO. Let’s see.
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soorya N
June 15, 2024
Before moving into tell about this movie
This movie had some theatre moments instead of telling it as “Wow” moments , Because if we are going to watch the same movie in laptop or TV , this won’t be the exact moment .
For me ,Movie worked in many places .He wrote the screenplay very well and “Whodunnit” genre kinda worked in most of the movies .
Violence are just becoming a part and parcel of our cinemas ……
But real problem started when the picture unfolds the knots of the movie.”Rape” old cliche template where really this movie went to the normal’ commercial cinema.
Writer should just thought had some second thoughts of doing this story’ in a different way by not showing the rape track from movie and could have done something metaphorical instead of making show girls pain, 50+ aged man doing this rubbish Activity etc .. could have been avoided literally.
Why only these templates are still followed in Cinemas?
Are they trying to show same father daughter relationship in a way like still women’s are having same problem…..
just think in a different way – what if the same incident is happening to a boy or men ?
Enough of following up the old template.
“Maharaja – Good attempt in non linear writing but didn’t shined in plot”
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brangan
June 16, 2024
For me, this was like MANJUMMEL BOYS — a lot of “high” moments, and you respond to them as though electrified, but the screenplay is so contrived and diagrammed. Now, this is not a problem. MEMENTO, for instance, is a “diagrammed” screenplay, too. In the sense that you need to hit THIS plot point at the end of these two scenes, and you need to hit THAT plot point by that scene. But it is not contrived. It is thoroughly organic.
Here, there are so many contrived points, from a man going to a police station asking for “Lakshmi” (if this was meant to be comic, it did not work for me, and if it was meant to be drama, it did not land), to his needless feats of superhuman strength — so much of the first half felt like padding. Oh, look, we need to show Natty is corrupt, so let’s put a long, random scene there… so we can have that Natty twist in the second half. Also, does Anurag check to see if a man is a rapist before choosing him as an accomplice? The intent was good, the writing just did not support it that well. (I am very surprised to see the raves for the screenplay. I can understand raves for the plotting, sure, especially that mind-blowing timeline shift — but the screenplay? Hmmm…)
BTW, a filmmaker called me yesterday and asked me a strange question (at least, a question I thought was strange). He said he was not able to make out whether I liked the movie or not because my review was (apparently) very “diplomatic”. I thought my headline said it all – that I felt there were some good bits but they don’t come together well. Hmmm….
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brangan
June 16, 2024
BTW, I totally respect a creator’s choice when it comes to what story he/she wants to tell, but this is an interesting opinion from Jodie Foster, who says “Rape seemed to be the only motivation that male screenwriters could come up with for why women did things.”
https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/jodie-foster-shocked-rape-victim-storylines-career-1235010029/
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hari prasad
June 16, 2024
BTW Baddy , I didn’t know that you have become the new Blue Sattai Maaran because apparently in the comments section of reviews for Maharaja and Garudan in other YouTube channels like Tried and Refused Productions, people are passing comments like ” BR is someone who finds something good in “bad” movies like Star and bad in good movies like Garudan or Maharaja to show he’s unique” , “BR is slowly becoming a negative Nancy” , “BR has become a cynic which is making Blue Sattai Maaran look benign in contrast”.
“Is BR hating his life or what?”
“Would BR be happy if Maharaja was directed by Mani Ratnam and the story is set in Mylapore or Adyar and Vijay Sethupathi owning a coffee shop?”
and the usual F-bomb his opinions thing.
So , what’s your take on being everyone’s “chellapillai” of the moment and how do you handle the backlash you receive for your opinions? (Never mind the fact that you didn’t say anything bad about Maharaja and Nithilan).
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brangan
June 16, 2024
hariprasad: What is there to “handle” in this?
People always get hysterical on social media, no? A friend sent me a thumbnail of the video of some guy who has apparently claimed that I “hate” MAHARAJA. That’s hilarious — because “hate” is such an extreme word, and I don’t think ANYTHING in my review suggests “hate”. But if that guy is using me as clickbait, then… good for him, I guess.
The only worry I have about my reviews is that I will may not “explain” my reasons for my opinion about a movie — because these reviews are written so fast. But I re-read this review, and I think I have explained my stand fairly well. I have explained my issues with the way the story has been handled. I have talked about the few things I liked. I have discussed the director’s style, as observed over his two films. I have discussed two types of writing (plot-based and character-based)…
I mean, you may like/dislike a film more than I did — but at least you should know WHERE I am coming from. That, I think, I have done here to a large extent in this review. And that is the ONLY thing that matters in art criticism.
PS: I am sorry STAR did not work for many people — but that, along with PREMALU and BRAMAYUGAM and AAVESHAM, are the films of the year so far for me. (I also enjoyed parts of POR quite a bit, though that was an OTT watch.)
PPS: I am not counting the “okay-ish” watches like CHANDU CHAMPION, which are okay-ish and watchable on their own terms but do not aspire to/rise to any kind of greatness.
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hari prasad
June 16, 2024
Por was bore not gonna lie , it tried really hard to be a trippy and much vibrant Agni Natchathiram but it crashed hard for me.
I watched just the songs of Agni to get back my energy but the hate for Star has become so huge and it’s made worse by the exaggeration on social media that if you say that you liked that movie then you’re considered as someone who doesn’t have cinematic taste , aesthetic to analyse a movie or some crap like that.
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Nimmi Rangaswamy
June 16, 2024
“STAR did not work for many people — but that, along with PREMALU and BRAMAYUGAM and AAVESHAM, are the films of the year so far for me. (I also enjoyed parts of POR quite a bit, though that was an OTT watch.) @BR – did you not like ‘Lover’? It was one of the amazing movies of 2024 thus far….
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hari prasad
June 16, 2024
Yes , he even did a LCA interview with Prabhuram Vyas…
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praneshp
June 16, 2024
@hari prasad: curious, why do you need to let social media change your opinion of a movie? I understand if you like/hate Star after a watch, but it’s weird that your opinion changes because of how it’s discussed on social media. I have had my opinion flipped in the past (sometimes by BR, the most notable one was Premam, his review completely changed how I approach and enjoy slice of life movies), but social media seems to be the worst place to go seek that change.
“Por was bore” is a great line btw, I wish I had used that when friends asked how it was.
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brangan
June 16, 2024
Oh yeah, forgot LOVER…
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hari prasad
June 16, 2024
My opinion of Star didn’t change at all because of social media , I still think it’s a pretty good movie but the thing is , social media opinions especially on movies , actually influence people into thinking that this is good/bad.
Pa.Ranjith’s Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is a great example of this exaggerated social media views ruining a movie , a popular right wing meme page posted that they hated the René character because she was a chatterbox and is an annoying character.
Many people I personally know didnt watch Natchathiram Nagargiradhu at all and when I asked why , they said that René character is annoying and this meme page said so.
Another one is that movie named Joe.
While the movie itself was an okayish Premam , Arjun Reddy inspired mashup , meme pages amped it up by saying this is Tamil cinema’s answer to Premam and it’s the Vaaranam Aayiram for 2k kids.
Sivakarthikeyan’s Prince got exposed for paying multiple meme pages in order to give positive reviews for it.
This influencing opinions has become some sort of a business.
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hari prasad
June 16, 2024
The point is , we are letting others influence opinions about the movies that we watch , we aren’t given a chance to think about our own opinions.
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Nimmi Rangaswamy
June 16, 2024
“Oh yeah, forgot LOVER…” Good Good- Tamil films are there – I have this silly competition about Tamil and Malayalam movies- these are the strongest film industries on may counts and I want to believe the Tamil Film industry have some strengths that the Malayalam one does not [ music , production scale, range, better drama / masala, equally strong creative/auteur directors] hence both equally strong…:):) Just biased me!!!!
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Honest Raj
June 16, 2024
I can understand raves for the plotting, sure, especially that mind-blowing timeline shift — but the screenplay? Hmmm…)
I guess for most of us, plot and screenplay are one and the same – it’s just that we use both the terms interchangeably. 🙂
The Sasikumar-starrer, Asuravadham, also dealt with a similar premise. IIRC, you liked the film for its writing.
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hari prasad
June 17, 2024
The producer of the movie that Baddy featured as an actor has sued a YouTube review channel blaming that the reason the movie failed at the box office is because of THIS review.
See , I told you people are taking reviews seriously!
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brangan
June 17, 2024
hari prasad: No, people are not taking reviews seriously. KADAISI VIVASAYI was praised to the skies and no one went and watched it. This is more like an intimidation tactic, meant to subdue reviewers.
Otherwise, people would have sued the fuck out of Blue Sattai several times over, because he not only disses the film but also in a troll-y way.
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hari prasad
June 17, 2024
Yes , no one cared for Kadaisi Vivasaayi even after that great appreciation video Mysskin recorded while driving and despite having Vijay Sethupathi play a role in it , I’ll take it back.
They were more eager to watch Ajith’s Valimai at that time and Kadaisi Vivasaayi sadly released on SonyLiv within 2 weeks of its release.
But seriously , do producers think that a review video which has a mere 30k views has affected their movie’s collection?
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vijay
June 17, 2024
“Many people I personally know didnt watch Natchathiram Nagargiradhu at all and when I asked why , they said that René character is annoying and this meme page said so.’
who are these geniuses? how old are they? 15?
Paid promos/reviews have been around for a long time now from even before social media days..the dumb fucks are those who let themselves be influenced by SM ..its them that the ‘influencers’ are precisely targetting
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hari prasad
June 17, 2024
I agree that despite the glowing reviews it got , no one watched Kadaisi Vivasaayi but then it isnt a movie for “a casual watch with your family” but then people watched Vikram / Leo / Jailer which had gore that’s flinching for our audience which is opposite to a casual movie watching experience like a Thiruchitrambalam for example.
I mean , Vijay Sethupathi isn’t a huge star like Rajini / Kamal / Vijay and yet he has the wattage to pull audience inside a theatre..
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tamil thanos
June 20, 2024
I don’t agree with movie not having a soul unlike Korangu Bommai. The soul of the movie here is what you did coming back to bite you and in the context of the movie, it is quite impactful. But unlike Korangu Bommai this doesn’t seem to be connected much to the whole plot (the whole movie was a lead up to that BharathiRaja monologue). However, here it takes place in the final scene and the only difference it makes to the whole plot is the villain dying with remorse rather than without it. They could have placed this realization a tad earlier maybe and have it influence the rest of the plot.
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