Mahaveeryar Movie Review
Actor Nivin Pauly’s production ‘Mahaveeryar’ starring him alongside Lal, Asif Ali, and a few more prominent actors in the star cast is directed by Abrid Shine. The movie endorses a new-fangled plot that assembles two different storylines from different points in time.
The first story is about a King (Lal) in ancient times, where his relentless hiccups have left him to struggle badly. He appoints his Prime Minister (Asif Ali) to get the most beautiful woman to him so that it could bring an end to his pathetic condition. While the appointed one sets out to zero in on the right girl, he finds the most beautiful girl out there and manages to drag her out from her home to the palace.
At present, we come across a Godman Apoornananthan (Nivin Pauly), who performs some magical stuff in a village and sooner is accused of stealing a precious statue of a deity and eventually ends up at a court trial. However, he manages to pull it off efficiently with his wits and perfect argumentations. In an unexpected manner, both these stories collide as time-travel and fantasy element that instills an unconditional curiosity among the audience for what could be next.
Director Abrid Shine is far-famed for his showpiece 1983, one of the best movies in his career till the date, and he deserves special mention for his vision of Mahaveeryar, which is surreal.
To bring up a hard-hitting issue from ancient times and test it with a court trial of modern times is something beyond our imaginations. He deserves special mention for crafting such a great story. Especially with Nivin Pauly playing an unusual character that can spark humor in his signature style, we get brimmed with more expectations. Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment is the characterization of Nivin Pauly declining into thin vapor during the second half. He is nothing but one of the junior artistes in the courtroom. Asif Ali looks perfect in his respective role. Lal’s character is pretty humorous, but the sound enhancement to make him sound terrified and powerful drops a sort of annoyance, especially for the unceasing hiccups. Shanvi makes her debut with this movie. Her screen presence and performance are appreciable. Siddiqui’s performance as judge is good.
What starts on a promising note ends up vaguely. Irrespective of the ancient or modern judicial system, the weaker section always becomes a victim, and the ruling class enjoys the privilege of depriving them of their rights. This is the core concept that Abrid Shine tries to convey but eventually fails to impress us. If Mahaveeryar was treated as a 30-minute short film, it would have won acclaim. During one scene, the judge keeps questioning Lal about his intention behind forcing that poor girl to stay with him. The movie should have actually ended as soon as he reveals the reason. However, the filmmaker knowing that there’s no vitality in the movie keeps avoiding the character spelling the truth till the end, which is totally unacceptable. Such mistakes slightly start testing the patience, and even the advocacies from both lawyers, turn out to be a boredom after some time.
Verdict: Mahaveeryar owns a brilliant vision of director Abrid, which would have worked out the best result as a short film. But this full-length feature leaves us discontented.
