Summery of "MAHARATHI"

Director by Shivam Nair & Cast: Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Boman Irani, Naseeruddin Shah Maharathi scores on the former aspect but shakes on the latter. This cinematic adaptation of a Gujarati play has able performances from its seasoned cast of senior actors. But the plot that starts off promisingly is flawed by few loopholes.

Subhash Sharma (Paresh Rawal) rescues Jai Singh Adenwala (Naseeruddin Shah) from a car accident and gets recruited as his driver. Jai Singh shares an estranged relationship with his much younger wife Mallika (Neha Dhupia). Like most murder mysteries, even the plot of this one is devised on the undying life-insurance money maneuver. The only difference being that here the person insured (Jai Singh) kills himself and challenges the claimant (his wife Mallika) to prove his suicide as a murder to obtain the insurance amount. Subhash teams up with Mallika to fake the suicide as a murder and mutually share the insurance money.

The basic idea behind Maharathi sounds interesting – murdering a man who has already committed suicide. But the idea isn’t scripted into a flawless screenplay. There are glitches galore. To start with Jai Singh didn’t seem to have a good enough reason to abruptly end his life. Moreover the poor chap was perhaps ignorant on insurance information or would have simply opted to change the nomination, if he didn’t want his wife to win the money. Nevertheless if we still overlook that faux pas for being the basic beginning and base to the thriller, many more uncertainties remain unexplained.

Ideally Subhash’s motivation for the entire manipulation should have ended the moment Mallika dies, since she was the only claimant to the insurance. Strangely he not only continues his concoction but also wins the insurance claim in the climax through reasons unexplained. Further Jai Singh leaves a will assigning his property in the name of Subhash. Now why would any person allocate his entire estate in the name of his driver?

The buildup of the narrative is interesting and keeps you riveted in the initial portions. But as Subhash’s plan goes for a toss in the concluding reels, the story complicates itself while trying to cover one flaw by another. Legality jargons like insurance clause, property-will and power of attorney muddle up the mystery.

However Maharathi scores for its smart dialogues which give Paresh Rawal sufficient scope to exploit his comic timing in the thriller genre. Despite the drama being primarily set in one mansion, the camera moves capably in the interiors to capture the finest frames. Avoiding song-dance-melodrama only enhances the effect.

Maharathi is embellished with competent performances that attempt to camouflage the intermittent imperfections. Naseeruddin Shah is effective as long as he lasts. Om Puri has an even shorter presence. Neha Dhupia manages her part well. Tara Sharma should certainly opt for a dubbing artist as her voice and dialogue-delivery irritates to no end. Boman Irani is brilliant in the climax scene. But the film clearly belongs to Paresh Rawal who even played the part in the original drama. He gets the maximum footage and shows immense screen presence through his comic capers and conniving conduct.

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