Maharaj, directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra, takes us back to 1855, when religious leaders from the Pushtimarg and Vallabhacharya communities came to Bombay and started practicing their religion there. The film is inspired by true events, though the makers have taken certain creative liberties to make the narrative a bit more entertaining for the audience, though they have kept most of the l details of the Maharaj Libel Case intact. I would say here that I was a bit let down by how the trial scene was executed. The trial happens only in the last few minutes of the film, and I believe it would have been more interesting if we had witnessed more loopholes, arguments, or intricacies of the trial. Nonetheless, let’s find out what was shown in the film versus what actually happened in real life.
They were scamming the people openly and yet enjoyed a lot of support from various communities in the city. The devotees came in huge numbers to the Havelis every day, and the Maharajs graced them with their presence during the morning and evening Aartis. At that time in the city, there was a wave of change as many reformers were printing their own newspapers and criticizing government policies, social norms, and whatever they thought was not right about society. One such reformer was Karsandas Mulji, and in his newspaper Satya Prakash, he criticized the practices of the Maharajs, which obviously didn’t go well with them. The Maharajs were annoyed with whatever he wrote, and they wanted to teach him a lesson. It was important for them to do so as it was a matter of reputation, and they didn’t want their devotees to lose faith in their teachings. That’s when Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj arrived at the scene, and he made the decision to file a case of defamation against the journalist. Karsandas had written that in the name of religious beliefs, the Maharajs did certain objectionable acts. He said that a lot of girls and wives of people were sent to these Maharajs, and under the pretense of giving them blessings, they were sexually exploiting them.
In the film, we saw that JJ indulged in an intimate act with Karsandas’s wife, and that served as motivation for the journalist to wage a war but that probably didn’t happen in real life. Karsandas published some hard truths in his newspaper because he felt that the priests didn’t have any right to oppress people and that too so openly and moreover he was the kind of man who believed that in the name of tradition one cannot harass anybody. It is true that the Maharaj wanted to give a befitting reply to the journalist and so he filed a case of defamation against him and he was quite sure that the support of his followers and their belief in him would compel the court to give the decision in his favor. But that didn’t happen, and the case was ultimately quashed by the court. It is true that Bhau Daji, Maharaj’s personal physician, testified against him in the court of law, and together with 30 other witnesses, the defense had a very strong case. Bhau Daji told the court that Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj had syphilis. He added that it was so because the Maharaj had sexual relationships with multiple women. We saw in the film that JJ didn’t agree to whatever Bhau Daji said and told the court that his claims were unsubstantiated.
During the trial the Maharaj denied all accusations, and he said that he didn’t take advantage of or exploit his female victims, but the evidence presented by the defense overrode his narrative. It is true that Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj made sure that potential witnesses were threatened and not allowed to give testimony against him, though there is no evidence that says that he actually went and killed someone, though all the other evidence that could prove that the so-called godman had lecherous instincts was tampered with by the devotees, as JJ asked them to. It is true that the women didn’t have the courage to speak against the godman because of the kind of hold he had over the community. That said, people soon started opening up, and they told the court about what had happened behind the closed doors of the Haveli. The court gave judgment in favor of Karsandas, and he received a compensation of Rs 11,500.
Every godman has a sense of infallibility about themselves because of how they can manipulate the people into believing that going against them is like going against the almighty. They play with people’s trust, assuming that their blind faith will never let them see the truth. Jadunathji Brijratanji Maharaj was also one of those fraudulent guys, and even though he didn’t lose all his followers after his clash with Karsandas, after the judgment was given, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to manipulate and play with the trust of people so easily.
There was a lot that could have been said when it comes to the topic of corrupt godmen. Jaideep Alhawat played the role to perfection, but I believe that his character was quite single-toned and the writing lacked the nuances required for such characters to be memorable. The makers took certain creative liberties to display the gruesome reality and so I believe that they could have added a little more layer to it and made it more intriguing.
