Maga Maharaju Review

It is good when our heroes have a couple of flops. That is when they try and make different movies. Or at least try. Vishal had had a series of flops when he choose to make a couple of sensible movies. Indrudu had a hero with a strange condition that caused him to fall asleep whenever he was excited. Though the execution was plebian, at least the premise was new. That was a mild hit, and the guy is back to his superstar mass-hero ways with Maga Maharaju.

Maga Maharaju belongs to a genre of movies that went out of fashion in the early '90s. The kind where there would be a constant background chorus of Magaadu, Magaadu, Magaadu, Maga Maga Maharaju! The kind where all the characters in the movie including the mothers-in-law and the sisters-in-law would be in awe of the hero and wanted to marry him. And the kind where the hero's dad would have three sons, and three sisters each of whom would have one daughter each, and his only wish would be that his three sons marry those three girls.

Maga Maharaju, then, is about Krishna (Vishal), a guy who makes a living by supplying people for political meetings. He sees Maya (Hansika Motwani) one day and falls in love with her instantly. He then meets her a few more times perchance, and she too falls in love with him! A small misunderstanding causes her to go away from him. This is when Krishna's dad Kesava Rao (Prabhu) enters the scene and reveals the three sisters with three daughters clause. However, the three sisters hate Kesava Rao as they believe he was the one responsible for their father's death. How our superhero wins his aunts' hearts and sets everything right forms the remaining plot.

Like we mentioned earlier, this is a done-to-death plot and should never have been made into a film in the first place. The director, Sundar C, does not infuse one bit of novelty into the proceedings, and attempts to win the audience over with some comedy and loads of glamour - courtesy Motwani. The film's screenplay ambles along at a snail's pace until the second half. The second half moves along at a slightly faster clip - that is all we can say about it. Santhanam's comedy in the initial parts of the movie and the climax manages to evoke loud laughter, and saves the film from complete doom.

Acting-wise, Vishal is back to super-hero mode after playing the guy-next-door in his last few outings. He is his usual self. Hansika Motwani, who seems a permanent fixture in Sundar C movies, infuses as much glamour as she can. The supporting cast is good, but the dubbing is terrible. Viewers seeing familiar faces and hearing unfamiliar voices does not bode well for a dubbed movie's fate.

The music is sheer cacophony. Hip Hop Tamizha, as the music director calls himself, scores one hip hop song which is passable. The remaining are just excuses for people to smoke more cigarettes, unless they want to ogle at Hansika Motwani. The production values are good - Vishal does spend well on his own movies, so that is not surprising.

We'd mentioned that we might just watch this one to recover from Ramleela. Unfortunately, Maga Maharaju did little to lift our spirits - we doubt it will do you much good, either!