Maharaja is an action mystery thriller from Tamil Nadu. This suspense-filled tale surprised us with its unexpected twists, unpredictable turns and astonishing scenes at the end.

This movie was originally made in the local Tamil language. However, later on, it was released pan-India and on Netflix after getting dubbed in different languages of India, namely, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Because of these reasons, it received much greater appreciation from a wider set of viewers.

“Maharaja” – This Riveting Crime Tale Boasts Of Mindblowing Suspense, Twists, Turns & Ending

Trailers: Maharaja (2024) Movie

Spoiler Free Review: Maharaja (2024) Movie

The summary

The official synopsis goes like this “A simpleton barber named “Maharaja” (Vijay Sethupathi) seeks vengeance after his home is burglarized, cryptically telling police his cherished “Lakshmi” has been taken, leaving them uncertain if it’s a person or object. Thus, when this barber seeks help from the police, the police personnel jeer at his request — until they learn what they’re looking for. Will the barber risk everything to recover his idol and peace?”

The term "Lakshmi" is the Hindu goddess of wealth, good fortune, happiness, youth, and beauty in Indian context. In addition, the name "Maharaja" means the "King" or the "Monarch".

Also, please note that we are not sharing the detailed storyline (plotline) of this movie, as it will ruin your viewing pleasure. 

Nithilan Saminathan – we loved his screenplay and film direction

Nithilan Saminathan – we loved his screenplay and film direction. However, the screenplay is the real winner in this mystery and suspense-filled movie. The police (as well as the audience) spent the better part of the movie, finding out the truth about missing “Lakshmi” and understanding the single-minded focus of “Maharaja” (Vijay Sethupathi) to find the criminal elements. The characters of the staff members of the entire police station as well as the others have been realistically written. Also, while watching it do not try to slot the movie characters into clear cut Black and White categories. Most of them are humans and have a shade of grey.

Nithilan has smartly used the on-linear timeline to narrate the complex story of the movie. While telling this action-filled crime tale, Nithilan liberally moves among different time-frames, past, present and future. In addition, he has very cleverly used movie editing tools, so that he can disclose one part of the truth while at the same time-frame hiding another part of reality. All of these movie-making styles made it a captivating and fascinating watch.

Loved the protagonist played by Vijay Sethupati

We have been impressed with the Indian (Tamilian) actor Vijay Sethupati and his admirable body of work. In this movie, the protagonist Maharaja (Vijay Sethupati) is a common man who simply wants elusive justice in the broken law enforcement system of India. Given the harsh realities and widespread corruption in the police force, Maharaja is willing to go to any length to recover the stolen “Laskhmi” from the robbers.

It is Vijay Sethupati's 50th film as a lead actor. We have last seen Vijay playing the lead role in the Merry Christmas (2024) Hindi Movie and the supporting role in the Farzi (S1/2023) Hindi Series.

He is even ready to bribe the police officials to get them to catch the dacoits. It is worth pointing out that bribery is a criminal offence in India. We simply loved the way Vijay portrayed the heart-broken yet fiercely determined Maharaja. Not only Vijay Sethupati’s eyes but his entire body language and mannerisms looked very convincing. We simply loved him as he displayed his entire range of emotions – from loving father to angry killer.

And we hated the antagonist portrayed by Anurag Kashyap

On the other hand, the actor Anurag Kashyap played the despicable antagonist Selvam, perfectly. We have always known Anurag Kashyap as a screenwriter and film director of famous Hindi movies. As we have seen some of the movies directed by him – Black Friday (2004), Dev D (2009), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), Lust Stories (2018), etc. And to be honest, we have not seen him portray a major character in a movie. So, we were not too sure about him. But Anurag surprised us. We hated Selvam – the cold-blooded criminal and Anurag depicted him flawlessly. The ending broke our hearts but this is where Anurag Kashyap impressed us with his performance.

This is Anurag Kashyap's third film in Tamil and his voice/dialogue is dubbed. As an actor, Anurag had earlier played ACP Martin Roy in Imaikka Nodigal (2018) and Daniel (guest) in Leo (2023) Movie.

The conclusion

The director and entire ensemble cast have done a fabulous job of keeping us hooked on this gripping tale of crime and punishment. But the top praise is reserved for its writers. We think it is one of the top Indian movies that we have seen in the first half of 2024 year. A must-watch because of its mind-boggling content.

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Poster:

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Top (Tamil) Songs: Maharaja (2024) Movie

Singer: Sid SriRam 
Lyrics: Vairamuthu 
Music: B. Ajaneesh Loknath 

Music Director: B. Ajaneesh Loknath
Singer: Jithin Raj & Harshika Devanath
Lyrics: Vairamuthu

Poster and Featured Image of the Maharaja (2024) Movie are courtesy of Netflix.