Maharaja: More Than Just a Missing Dustbin

Watching Maharaja is like peeling an onion — layer by layer, a barber’s anxious report of a missing dustbin after a house burglary hints at a search for something more. By the end of the film, you may find yourself overwhelmed with emotion, eyes brimming with tears.

Sense of Wander: ★★★★★

Maharaja visits the police station everyday, hoping to uncover the culprit who stole "Lakshmi."

*For those who haven’t watched the film, this article contains spoilers!

From the start, we’re introduced to Maharaja, a quiet man who works as a barber at Ramki Saloon in Chennai.

One day, Maharaja visits the local police station to report a robbery, claiming that Lakshmi has been stolen. To the surprise of the cops — and us viewers — the Lakshmi in question isn’t a statue of the Hindu goddess or his daughter, but a humble, worn-out dustbin, revered by his family ever since it saved his daughter Jothi’s life in an accident.

The backstory unfolds: when Jothi was little, the family was visiting a house when a truck crashed into it, causing the death of Maharaja’s wife. But Jothi survived, thanks to the dustbin that fell and shielded her. Out of affection, they named it “Lakshmi.”

The police find the case absurd, initially dismissing Maharaja as a madman and refusing to investigate the disappearance of an empty dustbin. However, Maharaja tirelessly repeats the incident to every officer he meets, insisting that an armed gang raided his house, attacked him, and stole Lakshmi.

Things take a turn when Maharaja offers a bribe of five lakh rupees to the police for finding the culprit. Only then do they start “investigating” — but do they really? In the mean time, one officer works behind the scenes to track down the best metalsmith in town, hoping to replicate the stolen dustbin.

It all seems to make sense — when you stop and think: why would any thief steal an old, empty dustbin instead of the valuables in the house? The police begin to suspect there’s more to the story, wondering if the dustbin might have held something else inside.

The bond between the Maharaja and his daughter Jothi is deeply moving.

Maharaja recounts the incident to the police, seeking their help in locating the missing Lakshmi.

Anyone would think that Maharaja is genuinely searching for the stolen Lakshmi — the dustbin his daughter asked him to look after while she’s away for a school trip. After all, we’ve seen that Maharaja is a devoted father who would do anything for his little daughter. But it isn’t until halfway through the film, when the narrative shifts between the past — in 2009 — and the present, that the truth begins to unfold, layer by layer.

I must admit: this is my first time watching a Tamil film — and it wasn’t until midway through that I could finally differentiate between the characters, like the younger Maharaja versus the present-day Maharaja. Many of the actors looked similar, which made it hard for me to keep track. If I had been able to identify the characters more accurately early on, I’m sure I would’ve understood the story much sooner.

It turns out that during the house burglary, it wasn’t Maharaja who was attacked, but his daughter, Jothi, who had just returned home late at night, The house was being raided by Selvam, a known criminal recently released from prison, along with his assistant Sabari and an unofficial police informant, Nallasivam. They were seeking revenge on Maharaja for exposing Selvam in 2009.

It’s heartbreaking to learn that Maharaja had nothing to do with Selvam’s arrest. The two first crossed paths in 2009 when Selvam visited the Ram Saloon for a quick trim. He suspected Maharaja of overhearing his conversation with Sabari about their crime. In a hurry to leave, Selvam forgot a gold chain — a birthday gift for his daughter, Ammu. When Maharaja visits Selvam’s house to return it, the police arrive and arrest Selvam, who believes Maharaja is the one who exposed him.

Selvam, a known criminal, teamed up with Sabari and Nallasivam to raid the house and assault women.

Fourteen years later, Selvam and his men ambush Maharaja’s house, intending to kill him. But to their surprise, it’s Jothi who returns, not Maharaja. One of the men, Nallasivam, assaults her. During Maharaja’s search for answers, he learns that one of the accomplices is at the police station, which leads him there at the start of the film.

Meanwhile, Nallasivam, an unofficial police informant, is asked by the police to pose as the perpetrator in order to “solve” the dustbin case. But when he describes the robbery, his account accidentally exposes him as the one who assaulted Jothi. To everyone’s shock, the police allow Maharaja to take justice into his own hands, and Nallasivam ultimately dies.

Maharaja is later seen arriving at a construction site to confront Selvam. After incapacitating him, he brings Jothi, fulfilling her wish to face the men behind the crime. I was moved by Jothi’s generosity in forgiving Selvam — she tosses a bag of jewellery in his face, assuming he had come for it.

Among the jewellery, Selvam finds the gold chain he had intended for his daughter, Ammu, the very chain Maharaja had once tried to return. That kind gesture, tragically, led to the deaths of Maharaja’s wife, daughter, and Selvam’s own wife, leaving Ammu, who was saved by the dustbin Lakshmi.

Maharaja adopted Ammu, renamed her Jothi, and raised her as his own. When Selvam sees the scar on Jothi’s shoulder, mirroring the one Ammu had when she was young, he realises with horror that he had unwittingly been complicit in the assault on his own daughter.

Some may see the film as a moral tale of “What goes around, comes around,” with Selvam thinking he was getting revenge on Maharaja, only to destroy his own life. To me, though, the film highlights the complexities narratives can reach and how, at times, telling a white lie — like what Maharaja did — might be necessary to achieve one’s goals.

Although Maharaja is categorised as a thriller-action film, and it does contain blood, violence, and death — elements I usually avoid — director Nithilan Saminathan’s storytelling is truly impressive. The way he weaves the plot and characters together is unlike anything I’ve seen in other films.

The film also subtly addresses issues in modern-day India, such as police corruption and rape, while offering a positive note by showcasing the incredible strength of women like Jothi, who choose to move forward despite the hardships they’ve faced.