Review of Maharaj, directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra

Throughout the years, I’ve been meaning to watch more Indian cinema. As one can probably see through my blog posts, as I learned when I was creating my indexes to easily navigate to said blog posts, there are a handful of Indian films and literature that I’ve managed to watch/read throughout the years and review.

Most are Hindi and Bangla films though, as I studied Bangla virtually during the pandemic. I was supposed to go to India, but then the pandemic changed everything and the world shut down. Then, in 2024, I won a Fulbright award to go to India and study Bangla again, but then I never made it to India. Long story short, I was refused a visa and no reason was provided as to why this happened.

I watched Maharaj while I was waiting three months for my visa to be denied or approved. It was an anxious time, but I was watching some Indian movies here and there, imagining what it would be like when I moved to my apartment in Kolkata and roamed the streets of places like Delhi.

None of that would happen, but I had fun watching these movies. Maharaj was an interesting one to me because of how it dealt with social issues in a more distant time period, not the modern day, and it was that synopsis that got me to watch it at the end of the day.

I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction, so let’s get into the review

After being exposed to a horrible injustice, a young man decides to take matters into his own hands.

Our main character in this movie was a real-life figure in India, although he might not be well-known to those outside of the borders of South Asia. His name is Karsan, who, at the time the movie is set, is a young man living with his uncle and aunt after the death of his mother.

He’s pretty progressive for the mid-1800s, and he wants to be a social reformer in Bombay. Recently, he is engaged to be married to Kishori, who believes in a holy man that lives in the region: JJ. The people love JJ around here, and the religious ceremonies led by him are well attended and celebrated when they happen.

When holi comes around, JJ notices Kishori, who is a beautiful young woman. He tells her to come to his sacred space, as he typically chooses a young woman to perform a charan seva for him while he’s in his room. As it turns out, the charan seva is actually being forced to do sexual acts with him, and the young women do it because he’s such an important figure in the community.

Karsan notices that Kishori is missing during the festivities, and he decides to go into the holy grounds to see what’s happening for himself. Then he walks in on Kishori and JJ having sex, and he decides to break off their engagement right then and there because he thinks that Kishori is being compliant with such a horrible act. He also now knows the truth behind what JJ is doing, which is a new battle.

She does realize after the fact that what she did isn’t right and that JJ is taking advantage of young women’s beliefs in order to get close to them. But Karsan is direct in his wishes: he does not want to marry Kishori because of what happened, but his family, who are also JJ’s followers, think that nothing wrong happened here when confronted with the truth.

Kishori kills herself because of what happened, and her final wish is that Karsan exposes JJ for what he did. Up until this point Karsan was conflicted as to what he should do, but when he reads her final wishes, he decides to confront JJ right then and there. JJ is cocky and tells Karsan he can change nothing, and that JJ is a god and Karsan should just become another worshipper too.

When no paper in town publishes what Karsan has to say, he makes his own. JJ has them burned because of this, and then tells his followers he will not reopen the havelis for his followers until Karsan apologizes. This angers the community and Karsan confronts them and says that they are not religious because of the space.

They break their fasts after Karsan places an idol on the street. JJ contacts Karsan’s family and threatens them, and his father comes to the paper and says he will disown Karsan if he does not apologize. He says no and continues his work. When the newspaper does begin circulating, the public perception of JJ begins changing.

Because of this, JJ goes to court. Karsan’s uncle gathers witnesses, who back out from fear, and then Karsan’s press is burned down. Viraaj, a woman who has helped Karsan throughout this process, admits that she was once sent to JJ for the charan seva and reaffirms the work that Karsan is doing is important.

JJ’s own wife then tips off Karsan to a witness. The trial begins, and Karsan has no witnesses. When it’s revealed JJ has an STD, Karsan points out how JJ manipulates scripture towards women, and the women in the courtroom testify against him. Karsan wins the case and JJ has criminal charges. The people applaud Karsan as he leaves court, while JJ has no followers.

Overall Thoughts

While this might not be the most entertaining movie (I had to split it up into chunks in order to get through it all, as I thought the pacing was a bit off), I think this is such an important movie. Women’s rights are still a problem in India and the world in general, and movies like these allow us a window into how one man in the 1800s fought against these problems.

If we could fight in the 1800s, we can fight it now. That’s something I took away from the movie in general, and I think people should watch these kinds of movies solely for that messaging sometimes. There’s hope even when it seems like no one is listening, and because Karsan did not give up, people eventually heard what he had to say.

Besides that, this is an okay movie. The dialogue is a bit stiff at times and the pacing off, but I pushed through and found the reward of doing so worth it in the end.

So watch this if you’re interested in the subject matter. If you aren’t, you might find it a little more painful to get through overall.

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