Maharaja, Vijay Sethupathi’s 50th film, weaves a compelling narrative that delves into themes of justice, vengeance, and moral ambiguity. The story centers on Maharaja (Vijay Sethupathi), a humble barber in Chennai, whose life is upended when a tragic accident claims his wife and nearly takes his daughter, Jothi (Sachana Namidass). A decade later, their lives are disrupted again by a home invasion targeting a seemingly insignificant trash bin named “Lakshmi,” which had once saved Jothi’s life. This peculiar theft propels Maharaja into a labyrinth of crime and retribution, challenging his notions of morality and justice.
Critically acclaimed for its storytelling and performances, Maharaja has been lauded for its engaging screenplay and Sethupathi’s compelling portrayal of the titular character. The film delves deep into the psyche of its characters, exploring the lengths one would go to seek justice and the moral ambiguities that accompany such a journey. This cinematic piece not only showcases the raw emotions of its characters but also reflects on broader societal issues, making it a thought-provoking watch for audiences.
Accident, Theft, Mystery
The story follows a barber named Maharaja, who resides with his young daughter, Jothi, after his wife’s death. One day, while Maharaja selects a doll for his daughter at a toy store across from their house, a speeding truck veers and crashes into their home. Jothi survived the accident thanks to a dustbin that accidentally fell and covered her during the crash. Maharaja kept the dustbin as a memento of his daughter’s miraculous survival. 14 years later, Maharaja and Jothi continue to honor the trash bin they named “Lakshmi”. Now, Maharaja works as a barber at Ramki Saloon in Chennai, following a routine: working, picking up his daughter from school, and returning home.
One day, summoned by the school principal over accusations that Jothi had mixed alcohol into the teachers’ drinks, Maharaja arrives to defend his daughter from expulsion. When another boy confesses as the real culprit, the principal stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his mistake or apologize, instead ordering them to leave. Outraged, Maharaja demands justice, but as security and teachers attempt to remove him. Maharaja grips a nearby pole with such force that it collapses under his strength, stunning everyone present. Witnessing this display of raw power, the terrified principal hesitates, then finally concedes defeat and apologizes to Jothi, restoring her dignity.
A few days later, Jothi attends a sports camp organized by her P.T. teacher, Aasifa. Maharaja escorts her to the bus station, waving goodbye, visibly hesitant to let her go on her own. That night, a mystery unfolds at Maharaja’s home. The house is ransacked, and Maharaja lies unconscious on the floor. A cobra slithers into the house and over his body, jolting him awake. The next morning, Maharaja visits the local police station to file a report, stating that an armed gang raided his house during the night. However, they ignored money and jewelry, stealing something far more valuable—Lakshmi, the sacred trash bin.
The police dismiss his plea, finding it trivial and absurd. Undeterred, Maharaja persistently returns to the station on following days, pleading for assistance. During one of his visits, in a moment of frustration, he grips a wooden beam on the wall, inadvertently causing a storage rack to collapse. As it falls, a barrel containing cobras tumbles from the rack, releasing the snakes into the station. Panic ensues as officers and visitors scramble to safety, but Maharaja remains unfazed. With remarkable composure, he seizes one of the cobras with his bare hands, showcasing an unexpected fearlessness that leaves the onlookers in awe.
The narrative then shifts to a subplot involving Inspector Varadharajan (Natty Subramaniam), who is assigned to investigate a gold theft at a local residence. He interrogates a thief, compelling him to reenact the crime scene to understand the modus operandi. However, when it’s discovered that the returned gold is counterfeit, tensions escalate among Varadharajan, the thief, and the homeowner. This confrontation unveils Varadharajan’s own illicit scheme: he had been orchestrating a racket where he recruited prisoners for personal gain, sharing the illicit profits with their families before ensuring their return to incarceration.
Back at the police station, Maharaja persistently seeks assistance from the police for his stolen dustbin. Varadharajan initially tolerates then angrily expels him from the station. Maharaja persists, offering INR 500.000 as a reward for finding Lakshmi. Varadharajan publicly rejects this obvious bribe yet privately covets the enormous sum. Varadharajan and two officers visit Maharaja’s home feigning investigation while actually hunting for Maharaja’s bankbook containing millions more rupees in savings. This lure compels their serious pursuit of Lakshmi.
Varadharajan assigns an officer to locate a trash bin identical to Maharaja’s previously photographed one. This challenge intensifies since the bin, now more than 14 years old, has likely been out of production. During his hunt, the officer unexpectedly encounters Nallasivam (Singampuli), a burly police informant who has assisted in numerous cases. Nallasivam directs the officer to a blacksmith who promises to replicate the trash bin within two days.
Criminal Intrigue Emerges
One day before the dustbin theft, at a car wash, a customer named Karunakaran (Kaalaiyan) reports his missing glasses. Shortly after, Dhana (Manikandan), an employee responsible for vehicle transport, appears. Karunakaran confronted Dhana, physically assaulting him and threatening imprisonment over the missing glasses. The following night, Dhana, a former convict with remarkable courage, demonstrated his boldness by storming into the café frequented by Karunakaran and single-handedly attacking him and his friends.
The next day at the police station, Maharaja persistently visits to report the theft of his dustbin. While he is there, a car wash employee bursts into the same station to report Dhana’s disappearance since the previous night. Upon glimpsing Dhana’s photo, Maharaja suddenly recalls something, transporting us back to the night of the robbery to unveil the truth behind Dhana’s vanishing. After regaining consciousness on the night of the robbery, Maharaja discovers a parking ticket revealing the vehicle type and license plate number. The vehicle turns out to be none other than the white car belonging to Karunakaran..
Maharaja tracks Karunakaran to the café, where during their conversation, Karunakaran complains about a car wash employee who stole his expensive glasses and drove off in his car—on the very same day Maharaja’s house was robbed. Soon after, Dhana storms into the café to confront Karunakaran. This revelation helps Maharaja identify Dhana as one of the three thieves who ransacked his home and stole his treasured trash bin. After Dhana exits the café, Maharaja secretly tails him to an abandoned factory building. This factory clearly functions as Dhana’s gang hideout.
Inside, Dhana and his gang capture and immobilize Maharaja using a wrench. Dhana commands one of the thugs to sever Maharaja’s right arm. However, wielding a razor blade, Maharaja overpowers them all without killing anyone. While seemingly just a dustbin, “Lakshmi” holds profound symbolic value for Maharaja, representing his daughter’s dignity and worth, which is why he’s determined to reclaim it at any cost. Maharaja slams Dhana against a metal beam, demanding to know his robbery accomplices. When Dhana refuses to name all his accomplices, Maharaja kills him with a machete, explaining his disappearance that was reported at the police station.
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Flashing back 14 years before this incident, when a truck struck Maharaja’s wife and daughter, we meet Selvam (Anurag Kashyap), a merciless robber carrying out a heist with his accomplice. Their victim is a mother with her young daughter. Beyond theft, Selvam allows his partner to assault the little girl without showing any compassion. After the robbery, Selvam returns home, where he lives with his wife, Kokila (Abhirami), and their young daughter, Ammu. Surprisingly, a later scene reveals that the ‘Lakshmi’ trash bin originally belonged to Selvam.
A few days later, within the same timeline, a heavy object falls from a shelf, injuring Ammu’s back. Selvam carefully tends to her wounds. Some days after the incident, he and his wife visit a jewelry store to purchase a gold necklace for Ammu’s birthday. They become fixated on a necklace featuring a footprint logo encircled by rare red diamonds, which carries an exorbitant price. Despite his wife’s reluctance, Selvam insists on buying it, using money stolen from his robberies without her knowledge. The jeweler explains that the diamonds require time to be set and instructs Selvam to return the next day.
Unmasking Hidden Truths
The following day, Selvam picks up the necklace for Ammu’s birthday. His wife informs the neighbors about the celebration and asks Selvam to tidy his beard. For his haircut, Selvam visits Maharaja’s barbershop, where Maharaja is still a young barber. As Maharaja begins cutting Selvam’s hair, he notices that his clipper’s battery is low and steps out to purchase replacements. Shortly after, Selvam’s accomplice calls about their robbery headlining the newspaper and the ongoing police investigation. Distracted by the news, Selvam tries to bribe Maharaja, who rejects the offer.
When Selvam arrives home moments before the party, his wife discovers the diamond necklace missing from his pocket. The necklace lies forgotten at the barbershop, and Maharaja’s uncle receives instructions to deliver it according to the address on the order slip. Fatefully, when Maharaja delivers the necklace to Selvam’s house, police officers simultaneously arrive to arrest Selvam and his accomplices. This coincidence convinces Selvam that Maharaja betrayed him to authorities. Sabari, Selvam’s accomplice, is shot dead by the police during the arrest. Selvam is arrested, and his wife Kokila is shocked after knowing the truth and disowns Selvam.
Returning to the present, Nallasivam and an officer transport the newly crafted trash bin to Varadharajan’s house. They must now dirty it to perfectly match Maharaja’s bin. After replicating the trash bin, Varadharajan contacts former associates to pose as a thief, but none are willing, especially after learning they must steal an apparently worthless old bin. Nallasivam volunteers after hearing about the reward. Only preparation details for the night’s robbery remain.
Varadharajan directs an officer to have Maharaja recount that night’s events over a direct phone line. As they record everything, all truths emerge. The robbery transpired as Jothi returned from her camping trip while Maharaja headed home from the barbershop. Jothi arrived first and changed clothes when three thieves—Dhana, Selvam, and Nallasivam—invaded their house. Selvam attacked Jothi, seeking revenge against Maharaja, whom he believes caused his imprisonment.
While awaiting Maharaja’s return, Nallasivam claimed his wife’s absence prevented intimate contact with women, justifying his subsequent actions. Selvam consistently demonstrates apathy toward surrounding events and enabled Nallasivam’s atrocities twice. After endlessly waiting for Maharaja’s return, Selvam devises another revenge tactic: allowing Jothi’s suffering so Maharaja experiences the agony he endured these past 14 years.
Shortly after Selvam and his accomplices depart, Maharaja returns home late from hunting for shoes as a gift for Jothi’s return. He discovers Jothi’s condition and races her to the hospital. After Jothi receives treatment, Maharaja returns home in a fit of rage over his daughter’s assault, causing destruction and self-harm. Upon regaining consciousness, Jothi urges Maharaja to identify her attackers, not for revenge, but to confront Selvam and his accomplices directly. She yearns to understand what provoked such brutality. In truth, Lakshmi, the supposedly stolen trash bin, rests under Jothi’s bed, placed there deliberately by Maharaja.
Hearing Maharaja’s account of the stolen bin over the police station’s phone line, Nallasivam recalls his actions with Dhana and Selvam, realizing the events match that night’s occurrences. Yet one detail differs: the bin theft, which never happened. Consequently, Nallasivam abruptly refuses to play the thief, but Varadharajan demands he continue. Varadharajan forces Nallasivam to visit Maharaja’s house and recreate the crime scene. Nallasivam trembles throughout the reenactment, dreading Maharaja’s discovery of the truth.
Final Reckoning Unfolds
Nallasivam nearly exposes himself when demonstrating how he grabbed Jothi from behind, positioning his hands too low, indicating a teenager’s height. He swiftly adjusts his hands, pretending to embrace Maharaja. Recalling his daughter’s mention of an attacker with a back bulge, Maharaja embraces Nallasivam to verify, confirming his involvement in the assault. Maharaja asks Varadharajan and his men to step aside momentarily to question Nallasivam privately about his age and motivation for attacking a young girl.
After their conversation, Maharaja asks Varadharajan to release Nallasivam, feigning forgiveness while secretly plotting his revenge. However, Varadharajan reveals that he was already aware of Nallasivam’s crimes through officers investigating Dhana’s death at the abandoned factory, where evidence linked Nallasivam to the assault on Maharaja’s daughter. They had recovered Dhana’s phone, which contained a call from Nallasivam, further implicating him in the case involving the robbery and attack on Maharaja’s daughter.
Though reputed as corrupt, Varadharajan’s actions stem from paternal empathy, as he has a daughter of a similar age to Maharaja’s and imagines such a tragedy befalling his own family. He hands Maharaja a machete and locks the house from the outside. Left alone with his target, Maharaja finally executes Nallasivam, delivering the vengeance he had long awaited. With Nallasivam dead, only Selvam remains. Now working at an electrical store, Selvam is scheduled to deliver an order to a construction site, where Maharaja awaits, having obtained the address from Varadharajan. After subduing interfering workers, Maharaja confronts Selvam.
Torn between his protective instincts for Jothi and the recognition of Selvam as her biological father, Maharaja absorbs Selvam’s initial attack. However, thoughts of Jothi’s suffering fuel Maharaja’s strength to overpower Selvam. Honoring his promise, Maharaja immediately summons Jothi to the site. Upon arrival, Jothi sits to address Selvam directly. Instead of raging, the well-raised Jothi apologizes for any perceived wrongdoing. Believing that material wealth might have motivated their actions, Jothi tosses Selvam a pouch containing her jewelry.
Among the jewelry, a necklace with a footprint logo encircled by red diamonds stands out, triggering Selvam’s memory of the gold chain he had bought for his daughter, Ammu, before his imprisonment. During that time, Maharaja, accompanied by his wife and young daughter, visited Kokila’s new residence to return a gold chain intended for Selvam’s daughter, Ammu. While Maharaja crossed the street to purchase a gift for Ammu from a nearby shop, a truck lost control and crashed into Kokila’s house, resulting in the deaths of Kokila and Maharaja’s wife.
Ammu survived the accident, protected by a dustbin that toppled over her during the crash. Seizing the opportunity amidst the chaos, Maharaja adopted Ammu, renaming her Jothi, and raised her as his own daughter. Years later, Selvam becomes convinced of Jothi’s true identity after noticing a shoulder scar from a childhood kitchen accident. This revelation leads to a profound emotional reckoning for all involved, as the intertwined fates of the characters come to light.
Selvam crumbles, realizing he violated his own daughter. As Jothi retreats, he prostrates at Maharaja’s feet, begging to apologize, but Maharaja refuses. This represents karma for Selvam, who committed numerous crimes and permitted his accomplice to abuse victims. After Maharaja and Jothi depart, Selvam, crushed by guilt and heartbreak, leaps from the building to his death, clutching the diamond necklace intended for his beloved daughter.
