The 2024 Indian Tamil-language criminal drama film Maharaja (transl. Great King) is directed by Nithilan Saminathan, who also co-wrote the dialogue with Raam Murali. Think Studios, The Route, and Passion Studios collaborated in its production. Alongside Anurag Kashyap, Sachana Namidass, Mamta Mohandas, Natarajan Subramaniam, Abhirami, Aruldoss, Munishkanth, Manikandan, Singampuli, and Bharathiraja, Vijay Sethupathi plays the title character in the movie. In the movie, a barber reports to the police that his “Lakshmi” has vanished during a house invasion, but the cops suspect something different.

Maharaja, who resides in K. K. Nagar, works as a barber. When a vehicle crashed into the home where his wife and her daughter were seated, they were killed. Because she is shielded from the falling debris by a metal trashcan, his daughter Jyothi survives the disaster. Later, the trashcan is affectionately named “Lakshmi” by Maharaja and Jyothi, who anthropomorphize it. Later on, Jyothi—who is now a teenager—and Lakshmi move with Maharaja to a new location. Jyothi participates in sports at school; she and her sports instructor, Aasifa, travel outside of the city to attend a sports camp.

To the delight of the station, Maharaja goes to the local police station to report a robbery, claiming that their dustbin Lakshmi has been taken. He tells them the entire story, claiming that Lakshmi was taken by an armed group that broke into his home and assaulted him.At first, the police dismiss the case because they don’t think it’s worth their time and effort to search for something as simple as an empty trash can. Maharaja refuses to back down in the face of their persistent rejection and even violent threats. When he guarantees a payment of ₹5 lakhs upon identifying the criminals, they finally agree to take the case. Using Nallasivam, a former prisoner who is now an informant, the police locate Lakshmi.

Past (2009): After robbing homes and seizing the women’s belongings, the dacoit gang Selvam and Sabari kills them. When a daily publishes an editorial on their misdeeds without naming them, Sabari calls Selvam to let him know. Maharaja overhears Selvam’s conversation as he is getting his beard trimmed in the Ramki saloon. At the saloon, Selvam misplaces a gold necklace that he intended to give to his little daughter Ammu. Policemen come at Selvam’s residence to take custody of Selvam and Sabari at the same time that Maharaja goes to return it. Police humiliatingly shoot Sabari and take Selvam into custody. Out of disgust and rage, Kokila, Selvam’s wife, who was not aware of his illegal actions, requests that he avoid Ammu.

Current (2023): Dhana, a delinquent, works at a nearby auto repair shop. He is beaten and threatened by a local politician who claims he stole his car’s sunglasses. At a neighborhood tavern, where Maharaja is also present, Dhana beats him in an attempt to get revenge. While the police carry out their investigation into the dustbin case, Nallasivam assists in having a dustbin cast and damaged to resemble “Lakshmi”. Police begin phoning criminals who accept such duties in an attempt to locate willful scapegoats, but they laugh at the prospect of being charged with trashcan theft. Nallasivam eventually consents to come out as the culprit, claiming that he enjoys acting.

Maharaja narrates the same events, but the flashback shows what really happened—that is, Jyothi went home without Maharaja. To kill Maharaja, three men—Nallasivam, Dhana, and Selvam—are at the home; however, Maharaja is not there. After they physically attacked Jyothi, beating and knocking her out, Nallasivam raped her twice. When Maharaja discovers her at home, she is in a violated state, so he takes her to the hospital. Jyothi asks her father to let her face the man who is in charge of this. Maharaja knocks himself senseless out of fury and despair after admitting Jyothi to the hospital.

He finds Dhana when he wakes up and notices a toll plaza receipt with the local politician’s vehicle number on it. Maharaja pursues him, and they get into a brawl in which Maharaja wins and demands to know who his co-conspirators were on the day of the heist. Dhana informs him that one of them stabs Maharaja in the leg while they are inside the police station. Dhana is beheaded by Maharaja before he can flee.

Nallasivam, who is now seeming agitated, is persuaded to stay the night by Inspector Varadarajan and his colleagues police officers so that they may easily return the trashcan to Maharaja’s residence the following day. As Nallasivam performs and admits to his “crime” of stealing the trashcan, Maharaja also comes to the realization that Nallasivam is among the genuine culprits. By forcing Maharaja to punish Varadharajan suitably, they also discover that Nallasivam was involved in criminal activity. They discovered Dhana’s phone with Nallasivam phoning him when they were looking into his death. After obtaining Maharaja’s phone number and the doctor’s details on Jyothi, they executed the scheme of presenting Nallasivam to Maharaja.

The police release Nallasivam to Maharaja, who is then free to punish Nallasivam; Varadharajan and company will take care of the punishment. Before killing Nallasivam, Maharaja discovers who the third accomplice is. When Maharaja gets to Selvam’s building site, the two men start fighting. After a while, Maharaja renders Selvam unable, and Aasifa takes Jyothi to him. After insulting Selvam, Jyothi throws a sack full of jewelry in his face, presumably thinking that’s why he came. Selvam discovers a gold chain that is substantially similar to the one he had purchased for Ammu on her birthday—the exact set that Maharaja had come to get.

It is now known that Maharaja, his wife, and their daughter had visited Kokila at her new home to return the jewelry set following Selvam’s incarceration. A vehicle crashed into Selvam’s home as Maharaja was on his way to give Ammu a gift; everyone was killed, except for Ammu, who is spared by Lakshmi. Ammu is raised by Maharaja as his own daughter Jyothi after being adopted. Selvam becomes aware that he has unintentionally participated in the rape and abuse of his own daughter when he notices a scar on Jyothi’s shoulder that resembles the scar on Ammu, the child. Guilt-ridden, Selvam tumbles from the structure and perishes while Ammu, Maharaja, and Aasifa leave.

In February 2023, the movie was formally unveiled under the working title VJS50, honoring Sethupathi’s half-century of acting credits. The same month, principal photography began, with most of it happening in Chennai on a single schedule. The official title was revealed in July, the same month that Think Studios joined as co-producers and the filming was coming to an end. B wrote the music for the movie. Ajaneesh Loknath, Philomin Raj handled editing, while Dinesh Purushothaman handled cinematography.

Critics complimented Philomin’s editing, Swaminathan’s directing, and Sethupathi’s acting in Maharaja, which was released on June 14, 2024, globally. It broke many records at the box office, including the biggest opening weekend for a Tamil movie in 2024. As of right now, it’s the fourth highest earning Tamil movie of the year.