The Other Banana

Episode 136: On Nithilan Saminathan’s Maharaja

Nithilan Saminathan returns after Kurangu Bommai with a bigger canvas and a bigger star. His talents are still visible, refined even, but his latest film with Vijay Sethupathi in and as Maharaja started a discourse about rape-revenge genre in cinema, gratuitous violence, depiction of sexual abuse, and the conspicuous choice of Vairamuthu as lyricist.

Aditya joins Deepauk and regular guest Subha Rao to talk about what irked them about the film, what they liked, and where Tamil cinema must do better. And how the audience reaction in the theatres didn’t inspire much confidence. The discussion contains spoilers.

Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya⁠

Deepauk⁠

Subha Rao⁠

Link to Subha’s opinion piece on the film in The News Minute: ⁠https://www.thenewsminute.com/flix/opinion-vijay-sethupathi-film-maharaja-is-an-example-of-how-not-to-depict-violence-on-screen