%20%20Parami%20News.jpg?w=860&resize=860,0&ssl=1)
Maharaja is a film starring Vijay Sethupathi which was a big hit at the theaters and is now making waves on Netflix. Since it debuted on this streaming platform, people have been ranting about it all over the place and were more curious about the story leading to increased viewership and social media activity. The biggest thing that has really helped Maharaja was its different concept from other films of this kind. If it were a Hollywood picture, it would have had high chances of winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, thus proving that Nithilan Swaminathan is an accomplished writer-director. By-the-way, the movie has something in common with Sidharth Malhotra’s spy comedy A Gentleman (2017). But before we continue reading further beware; this article contains spoilers.
In Maharaja, we first see the protagonist called Maharaja complaining to the police about three thieves who stole his dustbin named Jothi which he shares with his daughter Sachana Namidass. They try to scare him away but once he insists on payment them lakhs of rupees they agree to help find it for him. Meanwhile Selvam (Anurag Kashyap) lives a double life where he helps his gang to rob houses and also kills or rapes those who live there. A shot shows Lakshmi, the dustbin in Selvam’s house so people can assume that he took it from Maharaja.
However, right after the intermission, one realizes Selvam’s track is set in 2009 while Maharaja’s track is set in present day! All these things are unraveled as climax becomes intense and dramatic. What makes everything clear in this second half? Its unpredictability made me feel like I got my money value back.
The trick of having two parallel tracks set at different timelines without telling viewers about it was also employed by A Gentleman featuring Jacqueline Fernandez. It begins by showing Gaurav Kapoor (Sidharth Malhotra) working as a software engineer in Miami, USA. He’s simple and non-violent. On the other hand, Rishi who is Gaurav’s doppelganger and is into espionage happens to be his opposite – action-packed and risk-taking.
Director Raj & DK have shown their genius at the interval stage where it is revealed that Gaurav and Rishi are one person! Rishi’s track is set 5 years before and he gives up the spy life to become ‘a gentleman’. Before this revelation, the director duo tries to lead you on thinking that Gaurav will come face-to-face with Rishi. A surprising twist leads us to believe otherwise.
This is a great film which unfortunately did not do well at the box office primarily due to its unique storyline which only few people can master. It came two years before Amazon Prime Video released the widely-loved The Family Man. Raj-DK became prominent figures through the Manoj Bajpayee starrer show. Currently, Sidharth Malhotra has been on an all-time high following his movie Shershaah(2021)’s great success on OTT platforms. Perhaps, even today A Gentleman would have fared better taking into consideration these factors of filming industry?
