Maharaja (The Great King) is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Nithilan Swaminathan, who co-wrote the script with Raam Murali. It is jointly produced by The Route, Think Studios and Passion Studios. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi in the titular role, alongside Anurag Kashyap, Mamta Mohandas, Natarajan Subramaniam, Abhirami Gopikumar, Singampuli, Aruldoss, Munishkanth, Sachana Namidass, Manikandan and Bharathiraja.
The film was officially announced in February 2023 under the tentative title VJS50, as it is Sethupathi’s 50th film as the lead actor. Principal photography commenced the same month, predominantly taking place in Chennai throughout a single schedule. The official title was announced in July, coinciding with the filming being wrapped and Think Studios by joining as co-producers. The film has music composed by B. Ajaneesh Loknath, cinematography handled by Dinesh Purushothaman and editing by Philomin Raj.
Maharaja was released worldwide on 14 June 2024 to positive reviews from critics, who praised Sethupathi’s performance, Philomin’s editing and Swaminathan’s writing and direction. It had the highest opening weekend and emerged as the second highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024.
Plot: Maharaja is a barber by profession living in Pallikaranai, Chennai. He works in Ramki saloon, a barbershop. One day, while he is buying a stuffed animal in a shop across the street from their house, a truck slams into the house, leading to his wife’s death, but his daughter, Jothi, survives when a dustbin accidentally falls and covers her. Maharaja and Jothi later name the dustbin “Lakshmi” out of affection, and they anthropomorphise it. Maharaja is very protective of Jothi but is a very quiet person who is often critiqued by his neighbours. Jothi is active in sports at school; she travels out of the city for a sports camp in Coimbatore, with her sports teacher, Aasifa. Meanwhile, Maharaja visits the local police station to report a robbery, citing that their dustbin Lakshmi has been robbed, much to the amusement of the cops. He recounts the whole incident to them, saying that an armed gang raided his house, attacked him, and took Lakshmi. The police initially snub the case, as they do not want to invest their efforts and time in finding a trivial object like an empty dustbin. They finally accept the case once he promises a bribe of ₹5 lakhs upon finding the culprits. The policemen rope in Nallasivam, a convict turned informant, to find Lakshmi.
Past (2009): Selvam and Sabari are a dacoit duo that raid houses, rape women, and kill all the victims after taking the loot. On Selvam’s toddler daughter Ammu’s birthday, Sabari phones Selvam to inform him that a newspaper has published an editorial on their crimes without revealing their identity. Selvam happens to be in Ramki saloon for a beard trim during the phone conversation, and after hanging up the call, he suspects that Maharaja may have overheard the conversation. Selvam leaves the saloon but forgets a gold chain at the saloon that he wants to gift Ammu. As Maharaja visits Selvam’s house to return it, policemen simultaneously arrive to arrest Selvam and Sabari. Police gun down Sabari and arrest Selvam in a humiliating manner. Kokila, Selvam’s wife, who was unaware of his criminal activities, keeps Ammu away from Selvam out of disgust, anger, and betrayal. Selvam stares at Maharaja, believing that Maharaja ratted him out.
Present (2023): A delinquent named Dhana works in a local car garage. A local politician beats and threatens him on the allegation that he stole his sunglasses from his car. Dhana seeks revenge as he beats him at a local bar, where Maharaja is also present. As the police continue to investigate the dustbin case, Nallasivam helps get a dustbin cast and dents to make it look identical to Lakshmi. To find wilful scapegoats, cops start calling thieves who take up such assignments, but they scoff at the idea of being accused of the petty theft of a dustbin. Eventually, Nallasivam agrees to turn in as the criminal, saying that he has a penchant for acting. They ask Maharaja over the phone to narrate the entire incident once again so that Nallasivam can act accordingly.
Maharaja recounts the event in the same manner but a flashback reveals the actual event, where Jothi had returned home from the sports camp in the absence of Maharaja. Three men revealed to be Selvam, Dhana, and Nallasivam, are present in the house to kill Maharaja. Selvam still believes Maharaja ratted him out and vows revenge against him for ruining his family, but Maharaja isn’t present. Instead, they physically assault Jothi, leaving her battered and unconscious, while Nallasivam and Dhana rape her multiple times. Then all three of them leave the house, believing that Maharaja will take too long to return. Upon reaching home, Maharaja finds Jothi in a critical state and takes her to the hospital. Jothi tells her dad that she wants to confront the men responsible for this. Jothi tells him that one of the men who attacked her had a tumor on his back. After admitting Jothi to the hospital, Maharaja returns home and, out of frustration and anguish, beats himself unconscious. When he wakes up, he sees a toll plaza receipt with the car number of the local politician whose sunglasses were stolen, which eventually leads him to the aforementioned barfight between Dhana and the politician. Maharaja follows Dhana out of the bar and a fight ensues between them, with Maharaja having the upper hand and asking who his accomplices were on the day of the robbery. Dhana tells him that one of them is inside the police station itself, and stabs Maharaja in his thigh. Before Dhana can escape, Maharaja beheads him. This is when Maharaja goes to the police station and invents a story about how his dustbin was stolen. He had the dustbin at his home all along.
Meanwhile, in the present, Inspector Varadharajan and his fellow policemen convince Nallasivam, now looking rather flustered, to spend the night at their place so that they can comfortably reach Maharaja’s place the next day to return the dustbin. Nallasivam enacts and confesses his ‘crime’ of stealing the dustbin when Maharaja realises that Nallasivam has a tumor on his back. Varadharajan compels Maharaja to give him an appropriate punishment, thereby revealing that they had also found out about Nallasivam’s involvement in the robbery and rape of Jothi. Another flashback shows that while investigating Dhana’s death, the police found Nallasivam calling Dhana’s phone. Further inquiring with Maharaja’s phone number and with the doctor’s information about Jothi, they had carried out the ruse of bringing Nallasivam to Maharaja. The police hand over Nallasivam to Maharaja, giving him the freedom to punish Nallasivam, with Varadharajan and team bearing the responsibility. Maharaja kills Nallasivam, but not before finding out who the third accomplice is.
Maharaja arrives at the construction site where Selvam works and the two men fight. Eventually, Maharaja incapacitates Selvam, and Aasifa brings Jothi to Selvam. Jothi proceeds to insult Selvam, and then tosses a bag full of jewelry at his face, assuming that he had come to their home for that. Selvam finds in the jewelry the gold chain he had bought for Ammu on her birthday – the very one that Maharaja had come to return so many years earlier.
The full scene from when Maharaja’s wife died at the beginning of the movie is now revealed in a final flashback. After Selvam’s arrest, Maharaja, his wife, and toddler daughter had come to Kokila’s new house to return the chain. When Maharaja had gone to buy Ammu a gift in a shop across the street, a truck rammed into Kokila’s house, killing everyone but Ammu, who was saved by Lakshmi. Maharaja adopts Ammu and raises her as his own daughter, Jothi. In the present, as Jothi leaves the building, Selvam sees a scar on Jothi’s shoulder, the same as one he helped nurse on toddler Ammu’s shoulder. He realises that he unwittingly had been complicit in the rape and assault of his own daughter. Selvam, out of guilt, jumps off the building and dies as Jothi walks out with Maharaja and Aasifa.
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharaja_(2024_film)