Mahaveeryar opens in the 17th century with a king (Lal) who can’t stop hiccuping and demanding his minister (Asif Ali) to bring a woman as beautiful and pure as tulsi. Meanwhile, in the present, a sage (Nivin Pauly) is accused of stealing a temple idol and is presented to a judge for trial. How the two worlds collide and the battle of justice that ensues form the crux of the film.
Nivin and Asif added the right flavours to the film, with each essaying their respective roles perfectly. Nivin Pauly, who plays sage Apoornnananthan, showcases a side he’s never disclosed before. He plays this role with panache and grace.
Lal as the selfish and corrupt king, Siddique as the biased and nonchalant judge, Lalu Alex as the just prosecutor, and Krishna Prasad as the defense lawyers do wonders in Mahaveeryar. Shanvi Srivastava also showcases a stellar performance
Abrid Shine’s Mahaveeryar is neither a time-travel film nor a courtroom thriller. Working from a short story by M Mukundan, Shine throws darts at our collective consciousness while touching upon the influence of political power.
The writing, despite the vision of the merging story worlds, is pretty one note and never lives up to the immense scope of the existing central idea. The first half and the second half are almost two different films with the only unifying factor being the actors and the supposed theme of the film.
The first half has all the trademarks of an Abrid Shine film.The quirkiness of the weighty theme is lost somewhere in the second half as the tone never settles us for the ultimate dramatic segues and clever genre manipulations thrown at us in quick succession.
The music is the biggest takeaway as the songs feel rooted in the world of the narrative and the background score by Ishaan Chhabra on his debut Malayalam album, manages to sustain the intrigue. Mahaveeryar is also a stunning visual film thanks to cinematographer Chandru Selvaraj’s exquisite frames.