The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Can’t Hold Court
MAHARAJ ★★■ Director: siddh art hp mal hot ra Cast: jun aid khan,jai deep ah law at, sh ali nip andey,s harv ari wagh
I
F THE jobless moral police hadn’t got twisted out of shape about Maharaj, a period film set in the 1860s based on the life and times of Karsandas Mulji, a reformer who worked tirelessly for women’s rights, it would have been seen as just one more attempt to tell a meaningful story in these heavily-censored times, where everything and anything is enough to offend anyone and everyone.
Not because of its theme, which is worthy indeed. and certainly not because it is the debut of Jun aid Khan, superstar Aamir Khan’s son, whose low-key release on Netflix has been attributed to many reasons, not the least ofwhic hist he lat te r’ swhizz marketing brain which knows the power of flying under the radar. But mainly because the film is strictly pass able: its very specific time and place and lead character is buried under trademark ‘Y ash ra jifi cation ’, in which the colour palette, the songs-and-dances, the stereo typical character is at ion, the dialogue- heavy confrontation, and all else comes off generic.
The film’s opening credits say that it ‘has been inspired by real events, and is an adaptation of the book titled Maharaj,bysaurabh
Shah. In the following paragraph, it also says that ‘the film does not make any claims of authenticity or correctness of any events or incidents depicted in the film ’. this is the kind of dissembling that Bollywood producers have long been driven to, just to save themselves from harassment. Given that it is set in Gujarat, revolving around a reformist patriot who is genuinely someone to be proud of, YRF must have thought that they would be safe. But no, because their tale’s chief enemy is a Sanatani guru who is a straight-up sinner in the way he preys upon unsuspecting women, all his du shk arm( wrongdoings) will of course be ignored, leading to the same, creaky accusations of showing‘ hindudh arm in bad light’.
Everyone can relax, because Maharaj is nothing but the usual story of good against evil, the meek against the powerful, which Bollywood has been telling forever, with a change in protagonist and antagonist. jun aid plays the “taaja aur nai soch waley pragatisheel (progressive)” Karsandas Mulji, whose beginnings as a journalist and teacher lead him to the point where he finds the courage to take a principled stand against the
adharmi Yadunath Maharaj (Ahlawat).
The stand-off ends up in court where we get multiple close-ups of the smirking Ahlawat settled back in a throne-like chair, and Karsan getting to spout his rousing monologue: ‘pratha purani nahin sahi honi
chahiye’ (customs should be correct, not just followed just because they are old); said
pratha being the lustful Maharaj’s right to choose the lucky girl for char ans eva, which is another name for molestation and rape. These kinds of holy men have long been legitimate bad guys in Hindi movies, and heroes have been encouraged in their fight against them, with the supporting cast in full vocal agreement. Karsan’s to-be wife (Pandey) becomes grist to the Maharaj mill, and the way the former deals with it (not well) could have lent some heft to the proceedings, but weepy familiar melodrama is where the film chooses to go. A pert young miss (Sharvari) is a welcome addition, even if she is very much in the chul bu limo on hp hat heroine mould.
The only one who is completely in sync with the film’s tonality is Jaideep Ahlawat, who has given us ad harm kath eked ar to beat alldharmke th eked a rs. you can see he is really working his mildly smiling visage, belied by the arrogant look and his street-style lines
‘maafi toh uska baap bhi mangega’, and ‘dharm ka paalan darr se karwana padta hai’.
You also wonder how an actor who is capable of great nuance kept a straight face through it all, but maybe that’s why watching him go through hi spaces is the high point of this film.
And that brings us to the real question : does Junaid Khan have his father’s genes? Is he as eye-catching as Aamir was in his debut, QSQT’? As far as likeness goes, Junaid looks like his own person, and you can see him growing in confidence as the film progresses. But does he leap off the screen? Not really. Does he have that very special somethingpapa had, and still does? he is pass able, like the film.
Ma ha raj does have a line which could have turned truly epic: ‘Dharm sez ya adakoih ins akyudhn ah in hai ’. but then the film’ s treatment would have had tobe much sharper: why blunt the edges when you want to show us someone with such historic significance?