Directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra, Maharaj is the debut film of Junaid Khan, who plays the protagonist, Karsandas Mulji, alongside the prolific Jaideep Alhawat, who plays the titular character, and Shalini Singh, who plays his love interest. The film is based on real-life events that took place in the year 1862, when a man decided to speak against redundant, absurd, and oppressive practices and traditions and wage a war against societal norms. An article was published by Karsandas in his newspaper Satyaprakash, which the godman, Jadunathji Brijratnaji Maharaj, found defamatory, and he moved the court of law to sue the journalist. So, let’s find out what happened in the film and in whose favor the court gave the judgment.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Kishori?
Karsandas had a very curious mind, and from a very young age, he just didn’t want to believe in anything and everything without knowing the reasoning or logic behind it. He didn’t understand why the women covered their heads with a veil; he didn’t understand why people prayed to the almighty or how he heard all those prayers and answered them. He didn’t understand why people put their faith in Maharaj and believed him to be the messenger of God. With time, these questions shaped the personality of Karsandas, and he became one of the eminent reformists of his time. His mother passed away when he was just ten years old, and after that, he moved to his uncle’s house to finish his studies and pursue a career in Bombay. Though Bombay in 1942 was still the epicenter of trade and commerce, it was very different from what it later evolved to be.
Jadunathji Brijratnaji Maharaj, aka JJ, was one of the prominent religious leaders in the area, and not only did people believe in him, but he enjoyed a rather superstar kind of fame. His devotees lined outside his “haveli” every day in the morning just to catch a glimpse of him. His popularity, the love people showered on him, and the faith they had in him could be assessed by the fact that people didn’t let him keep his feet on the ground. They lied outside and stretched their arms forward, and the so-called descendant of God walked on it. JJ felt he was invincible, as nobody dared question his authority. JJ was not only corrupt, but he was also a lecherous man who took advantage of the faith of the people. There was a ritual that was blindly followed by the city dwellers, and it was surprising that nobody objected to it until Karsandas came to the forefront and found out about it. So, just before their marriage, a girl was sent to the so-called reincarnation of God to have her first sexual encounter.
It was said that when Maharaj chose a girl to sleep with him, she would definitely get salvation from her sins and go to heaven in the afterlife. Karsandas was set to marry a girl named Kishori. Karsan wanted her to study, and he placed a lot of emphasis on that. He wanted her to know the world around her and gain knowledge so that she could understand what’s right for her and what’s wrong. After the celebration of Holi, JJ chose Kishori, and the latter went to his chambers to fulfill her duty. The ritual (if that debauchery was worthy of being called that) was referred to as the “charan pooja,” but even the girl’s parents were fully aware of what was happening there. Once Karsandas realized that his fiancé was with JJ, he went to look for her. He was shocked to find her in an intimate position with the Maharaj. Karsandas, fuming with anger, left the scene, and the very next day, he told Kishori that he was calling off their engagement. Kishori was distraught, and she felt like he was questioning her faith, but in reality, Karsandas was questioning the baseless superstitions that society had.
Why did J.J. file a defamation case against Karsandas?
Kishori, still pretty much a believer in the magical powers that her Maharaj had, thought that she would spend her life in the service of god. She felt bad that the love of her life didn’t understand her, but she was still happy that JJ considered her to be special. Kishori’s beliefs were shattered when she heard JJ talking to her sister and speaking the exact same words he spoke to her. Kishori understood that JJ just wanted to take advantage of the girls, and he was no godman but an extremely corrupt human being. Kishori begged Karsan to forgive her a few times before, but the latter knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay with someone who had such beliefs. What Karsan didn’t know was that Kishori had had a change of heart, and she saw the truth on the day her sister was being manipulated by the Maharaj. Kishori took her own life and she wrote a letter to Karsan, asking him to wage a war against the Maharaj and reveal his real face in front of innocent people. Karsan felt guilty, and he decided that he would have to do something about the situation, and that’s when his tiff with the godman began. Karsan wanted to publish an article in Dadabhai Naoroji’s newspaper, Rast Goftar, but when the statesman read it, he decided that he couldn’t let it get published. Dadabhai Naoroji himself was also a great reformist, but he knew that the people would burn his printing press if his paper criticized JJ so blatantly. So that’s when Karsan started his own newspaper called Satyaprakash. He published the article exposing what happened in the Haveli, but JJ’s men came and burned all the copies down. But soon, Karsan outsmarted JJ’s men, and the newspaper reached every doorstep. Now, that’s when JJ decided to file a case of defamation against the journalist, and in his complaint, he sought compensation of Rs. 50000, which was too much during that time. Before filing a complaint, JJ also closed the doors of his Haveli and put out a notice stating that unless and until Karsan apologized to him, he wouldn’t let the devotees enter the temple. But that ploy failed miserably, and JJ had to open his gates as he feared that the people would not need him or forget him with time.
How did Karsandas win the case against JJ?
A lot of times, when JJ had these sexual encounters, the women got pregnant, and they either gave birth and hid the fact that it was JJ’s child or they were forced to go through an abortion. But one time, things went out of hand when a woman named Leelawati got pregnant, and she came to JJ to ask for help. JJ gave her a sweet that had extracts from a plant that helped terminate the pregnancy. But JJ’s wife made sure that she vomited that sweet and gave birth to a baby. Karsandas knew that if he could get Leelawati to testify against the fraud godman, then he would win the case. JJ’s wife helped Karsan locate Leelawati, and it felt like the world would finally come to know about how corrupt JJ was. But JJ was a step ahead of Karsan, and he not only got Leelawati’s brother, Shyam ji Damodar, killed, but he also got Leelawati married to Giridhar Khawas, who was known for his servile bootlicking. Each and every person who was ready to testify against JJ was either threatened or killed. The trial began, and Karsan was ready to lose the case and go to prison.
In Maharaj‘s ending, something strange happened during the trial. Karsan gave his testimony, and the people realized that they were worshiping a demon dressed as a godman. The women got motivated by listening to Karsan, and his own widowed sister-in-law came to the court to testify against the godman. Following her lead, approximately 30-odd women came and spoke about how they were raped and molested. The judgment was passed, and the court held him not guilty. The judge even recommended initiating criminal proceedings against the godman. The best thing that happened due to the efforts of Karsandas and the trial was that the people realized who they were putting their faith in. They realized how wrong they were to send the women to be abused and disrespected by him in the name of tradition. It was because of such reformists, such bravehearts like Karsandas, that a lot of these totally absurd traditions and practices were abolished, and people started realizing how important it was to stop believing in these superstitions and inculcate a rational thought process.
