‘Maharaj’ Review: Aamir’s son Junaid Khan’s powerful performance, the film attacks the contractors of religion

In the year 1832, a boy was born in a staunch Vaishnav family in Vadal village of Gujarat. he/she was named Karsan Das, meaning servant of Krishna. But as he/she grew up, the same boy raised his/her voice against the hypocritical religious leaders of his/her own sect who roamed around as Maharaj. Superstar Aamir Khan’s son Junaid Khan’s debut film ‘Maharaj’ is the story of the courage of the same new thinking youth, social reformer, journalist Karsan Das Mulji of the 18th century, which is based on the book of the same title by author Saurabh Shah.

The story of ‘Maharaj’

From childhood, Karsan (Junaid Khan) had questions against the inconsistencies of religion and society. he/she had objections to the purdah system and was a supporter of widow remarriage. In such a situation, when he/she came to know that a contractor like JJ (Jaideep Ahlawat) from his/her own religion was taking advantage of the blind devotion of innocent people and sexually exploiting innocent girls and women in the name of charan seva, how could he/she sit quiet. That too, when the fire of JJ’s lust had already burnt the honour of his/her own fiancée Kishori (Shalini Pandey).

Through his/her writing, Charandas ripped off the Maharaj mask from JJ’s face, due to which he/she had to face a defamation case in court. This Maharaj libel case of 1862 is an important chapter in Indian law and history, where the court held JJ, who filed the case, guilty and acquitted Charandas, who was made the accused. Now the film ‘Maharaj’, which documents this important incident, has also been released on OTT after getting the green signal from the court.

‘Maharaj’ movie review

God is within us, we don’t need any Baba, Maharaj or JJ to reach him/her. Aamir Khan had explained the same thing in the film ‘PK’. Now the same lesson is in his/her son Junaid Khan’s first film ‘Maharaj’. The difference is that while Raju Hirani had told this thing in an entertaining way, here director Siddharth P Malhotra has kept the tone of the film serious. Apart from this, he/she has not been able to make the court case interesting. The lack of conflict is felt there.

Talking about Junaid, he/she should be praised for choosing such an issue-based film for his/her debut. he/she has played the strong character of Karsan with full confidence. The only thing that shows is the influence of theatre in his/her dialogue delivery. During long monologues, it seems that he/she is delivering dialogues on stage, he/she needs to work a little on it according to the camera.

Jaideep Ahlawat has given another fine performance as JJ. he/she conveys a lot through his/her expressions and smile without saying much. However, his/her character could have been made stronger. The way JJ creates obstacles in Karsan’s path does not seem that effective.

Shalini Pandey has played the role of a teenager with great innocence, while Sharvari Wagh seems like a breath of fresh air. She has done a very good job. The music of the film is average. Overall, despite some shortcomings, this film, which opens eyes against fanaticism, can be watched.

Why watch- The film creates awareness against fake contractors of religion.