Readers Write In #710: Where to Look and What to See: An Appreciation of ‘Maharaja’

By VS Shyam

“The best teachers are the ones who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see”- a quote written on one of Maharaja’s many significant inanimate objects. Just like I told you where to look for the quote but not what to see, Maharaja takes us on a journey between differentiating where to look and what to see, through its various exposition scenes:

The snake entering Maharaja’s house: We tend to think Maharaja is in danger of being bitten in sleep, but as the snake slithers through the house, we sense a bigger problem of things already having gone haywire. In fact, the snake ends up helping him regain his consciousness and finds the toll bill lying nearby. One might even assume that it is the same snake that later came out of a broken pot in the police station, since there too it helps him regain his standing among the policemen.

Maharaja’s first visit to the police station: We initially witness the normal happenings in a police station (police beating a Police), but through the lathi, come to know that Maharaja is already present there. When Maharaja uses that lathi as a support to stand up, we sense the continuation of last night’s problem.

Varadharajan’s investigation of theft: We look at a thief entering (not breaking) a house, and we tend to think that a usual theft is taking place, only to realize a few seconds later that an investigation is taking place when our eyes look at the owners and then Varadharajan. Only then we can see what is really happening. This scene has a double purpose of getting to know the character of Varadharajan and also serves as a reference scene later when Nallasivam enacts his theft and gets caught. A similar twin scene of Maharaja’s “udumbu pidi” attends the two-in-one goal of showcasing Maharaja’s affection towards Jothi, and a reference for the police station ceiling breakdown.

Selvam’s first crime: This one’s my favourite, where a chicken kuzhambu cooking scene where Selvam’s friend Sabari searches for onion and curd, immediately gets transformed into a crime scene.

Apart from the overall theme of revenge, the scenes where Maharaja shows a Kurangu Bommai from the Singapore Fancy Store to his wife, and the collapse of the police station’s roof reminded me of the director’s previous work, Kurangu Bommai. Towards the end, both movies share a similar idea, a punishment that’s more severe than death- to experience remorse and still not be able to do anything about it.

The movie’s non-linear structure was intriguing. Contrary to the cinematography, the editing deceives the audience, in the sense that it shows what to see, but only in a disarranged manner interchanging the past and present, so the audience has no choice but to wait till the salon’s name changes from Jothi to Ramki, and that’s the point we realize that there are two timelines. Here’s a structure of the actual chronology of events (in arrows) versus how the movie progressed (numbered).

Of course, the movie keeps switching blocks now and then to keep up with the guessing game against the audience. And at the end, the movie ends up winning. But instead of feeling defeat, we feel awe, because there is beauty in losing yourself in good art.