Maharathi is a thriller with a talented cast comprising of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Boman Irani, as well as Neha Dhupia and Tara Sharma. The story revolves around four characters -- a one-time big film producer Adenwalla (Naseeruddin), his greedy wife Mallika (Neha), his driver Subhas (Rawal) and the caretaker Swati (Tara).
Married to a greedy woman, who now hates him as he is neck deep in debt, Adenwalla turns to the bottle. But his miseries get the better of him, and Adenwalla commits suicide, leaving a Rs 24 crore insurance policy for his wife. Unfortunately, she learns that the policy doesn't cover suicide.
Looking for an opportunity to make a quick buck, conman Subhas makes a deal with Mallika to make her husband's suicide look like murder. They agree to split their loot 50-50.
The story sounds promising but the execution is quite lousy. The film moves at a slow pace, and finally ends abruptly. Production values of the film are poor as well.
The cast, however, does well. Naseeruddin, Paresh Rawal are very good. Om Puri's talent is wasted -- he has only three scenes in the film. But the actresses don't measure up the the actors. Neha screams out her dialogues, while Tara's dialogues are stilted.
We wonder why director Shivam Nair -- who directed the critically well-recieved Ahista Ahista earlier -- could not ulitise his brilliant cast to the fullest, and churn out a good thriller.
Rediff Rating: