Maharathi

I watched this movie last night and had not read any reviews at all. My brother watched this movie before me and told me that I will enjoy it. Initially I thought to be a bit slow and i was starting to lose any interest, but once the major twist in the film occurs I was drawn back into the movie until the credits. Its did give me a sense of it being inspired from an old Hollywood movie called 'Slueth' (I think thats how you spell it) staring Micheal Caine. Over all it was a good movie for all to enjoy.

This movie shows you can make a good movie without having Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar in the lead roles.

Paresh Rawal brings back memories of Johnny Walker (50's & 60's Comedian). There are some good performances from all the actors (male & female), Especially Om Puri and Boman Irani. IF you have not seen this movie, i shall recommend you do watch this. And the Plus point, In the 2 or so hours there are no songs, so the story is flowing, so no toilet or tea breaks :-).

Seldom are movies made from a play... & this one goes the right way! The last theater i can remember off hand was AANKHEN... A Bachan & Paresh Rawal.. The movie wasn't quite catchy, but one could imagine the kind of theatrical performances it must have delivered..

Today, i saw an actual performance, only difference being, I saw it on the screen.. The way the movie was done, one felt the characters were alive on a stage in front of me!!!

The plot of the movie is very good. But the performances are mind blowing! One couldn't have set a better cast, & while the ladies need to do much better, the quartet of Boman, Paresh, Naseer & Om Puri swept me off my feet!

While Paresh Raval dominates the movie completely, it is Boman's sharp performance that draws the curtain! I couldn't have spent my Friday night better.

It is a movie worth treasuring... Please have a look!

Shivam Nair assembles a fine cast in 'Maharathi'. With actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri in one movie, you would expect something great. I enjoyed the execution. It has that film noire feel to it. The interiors of Adenwalla's mansion is stunning. The cinematography is first rate. The editing is sharp. The element of mystery, suspense and drama is well maintained. The events unfold smoothly but surprisingly. Every time one would expect the story to follow a certain track, the viewer is thrown off with something unexpected. Paresh Rawal does a very good job carrying the film. Boman Irani isn't bad either. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri also do nothing short of a fine job (unfortunately they don't share screen space). Neha Dhupia looks the part but struggles to convince. It was great to see Tara Sharma after a long time. While I liked the whole mystery part, I was disappointed by the ending. I would have preferred a darker finale. In the conclusion, Subhash is portrayed as a character of little fault but he is almost as guilty as Adenwalla's wife. It was his plan to start with, as a consequence of which someone actually died. Yet, he turns out to be the good guy because the one who died is of 'loose' morals in comparison. This is a major flaw that prevents me from calling 'Maharathi' excellent. I also find it less convincing that a millionaire would leave his entire estate to a stranger he knows so little about. However, I didn't mind it at all for a one time watch because it's well made and has some good performances.

For starters the title is not apt. it gives an impression of a mythological drama (Ramayana/ Mahabharata). Well, it is clearly inspired by the success of Johnny Gaddar a la James Hadley Chase. Perhaps as a novel, it does ensure edge-of-seat excitement with twists and turns at every turn of page but sadly it failed to translate on screen. Again Johnny Gaddar should be a good reference point.

Performances::

§ Naseer:: Lesser mortals like us are in no position to comment on his work.

§ Paresh Rawal:: He was good if not excellent. The smart one-liners seemed stuffed into is mouth. His act of putting on the loyalty mask, seemed OTT. His frequent dispute with Neha Dhupia and Boman Irani were kind of show-stoppers to the narration.

§ Om Puri - Very short role and hence didn't get an opportunity to display histrionics.

§ Boman Irani - Very confident performance.

§ Neha Dhupia - Passable.

§ Tara Sharma - The "Little Red Riding Hood" act does raise the suspicion bar. Plus her choice of donning the same role every time is getting monotonously boring.

One gets a feel of watching a two-part episode from the Karamchand series, if you know what I mean. Shivam Nair won critical accolades for his work Ahista-Ahista, however seems this time putting shoulders to the wheel wasn't quite sufficient.

It was an awesome flick and all the big guns shouted in Unison. Paresh and Boman are outstanding. Paresh Rawal act fabulously in the movie. The movie is eye catching from very of its beginning and also audience start guessing about the characters from starting scenes. The movie catches the speed in 30-40 mins when Tag line of movie "How do you murder a man who has already committed suicide?", actually start reflecting in the story. Paresh's acting of fooling others and expressions of innocence at the same time, truly differentiates him from other actors. His drama to misguide the police officer and lawyer was really comic part of movie and pours humor. Even sometimes it makes you roll into laughter. Hats off to Paresh. Uttam Gada is really admirable for writing such a nice script. Good direction by Shivam Nair, a bit loose in the second half but covered in the end. Neha Dhupiya's acting was only negative even though she is very less to do. Overall worth watching the "Maharathi".