''Maharani'' () is a 2023 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by G. Marthandan. The film stars

Roshan Mathew Roshan Mathew (born 22 March 1992) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil films. He began his career with numerous theatre productions based in Chennai and Mumbai. These include ''The Glass Menagerie'' directed by Rajit Kap ...

and

Shine Tom Chacko Shine Tom Chacko (born 15 September 1983) is an Indian actor and former assistant director who works in Malayalam cinema along with a few Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil language, Tamil films. After working as an assistant to director Kamal ...

, alongside

Johny Antony Johny Antony is an Indian film director and actor, known for making comedy films in Malayalam cinema. He is from Changanassery in Kottayam district, Kerala. He worked for about a decade as an associate to directors Thulasidas, Taha, Kamal an ...

Harisree Ashokan Harisree Ashokan (born 6 April 1964) is an Indian actor and director who is known for his comedy roles in Malayalam films. Ashokan has acted in more than 200 Malayalam films. He started his career as a mimicry artist in the troupe Harisree and ...

Balu Varghese Balu Varghese is an Indian actor and singer who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He began his acting career as a child actor in '' Chanthupottu'' (2005). Early life and career Balu Varghese was born in Kochi. He is the son o ...

Jaffar Idukki Jaffar Idukki is an Indian actor, impressionist, and comedian, who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. Started his career with the 2007 film '' Kaiyoppu'', he has acted in about hundred films and has performed in a number of comedy sta ...

Nisha Sarang Nisha Sarangh is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television serials. She is best known for playing the character of Neelima in the TV sitcom ''Uppum Mulakum'', broadcast on Flowers. She won the Kerala State Television Award ...

and

Sruthy Jayan Sruthy Jayan is an Indian actress who works predominantly on Malayalam cinema. She is also a trained Indian classical dance, classical dancer. Filmography Films *''All films are in Malayalam, unless otherwise notes'' Television Short film ...

. The film was officially announced in September 2022.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in October in

Cherthala Cherthala is a municipality in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India and acts as a satellite town of Kochi. It is located north of the district headquarters in Alappuzha and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 20 ...

and wrapped up in November. The songs were composed by

Govind Vasantha Govind Vasantha (born 29 October 1988) is an Indian composer, singer, and violinist who works predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films. He is one of the founding members of the musical band Thaikkudam Bridge, in which he is a vocalist and v ...

, while the background score was given by

Gopi Sundar Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, Programming (music), programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil language, Tamil film industries. ...

. The cinematography and editing were handled by

Loganathan Srinivasan Loganathan Srinivasan is an Indian cinematographer who predominantly works in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada film industries. He is known for his cinematography in the critically and commercially successful film '' Ustad Hotel.'' Career ...

and Noufal Abdullah. ''Maharani'' was released on 24 November 2023.

Cast

Production

Development

''Maharani'' marks the return of G. Marthandan after a five-year gap following ''

Johny Johny Yes Appa ''Johny Johny Yes Appa'' is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language family comedy film directed by G. Marthandan, produced by Vaishak Rajan and written by Joji Thomas (debutant writer of '' Vellimoonga''). It stars Kunchacko Boban and Sanoop Santhosh. ...

'' (2018). In an interview with ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', he said that the film was planned earlier but got delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He also finalised the cast in 2019. The project was officially launched in late September 2023 in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

with a customary

puja Puja or Pooja may refer to: Religion *Puja (Hinduism), a ritual of devotional worship, to host and honour a guest, or one to celebrate an event *Puja (Buddhism), expressions of honour, worship and devotional attention * Puja, a wooden stick, some ...

ceremony. Sujit Balan produced the film under the banner of SB Films, in association with Badusha Productions. The film also marks the banner's initial production. The script was written by Ratheesh Ravi, who is known for ''

Ishq ''Ishq'' () is an Arabic word meaning 'love' or 'passion', also widely used in other languages of the Muslim world and the Indian subcontinent. The word ''ishq'' does not appear in the central religious text of Islam, the Quran, which instead u ...

'' (2019) and ''

Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Abbreviations * Acceptable daily intake, in health and medicine * Acting detective inspector, a type of police inspector * Africa Development Indicators, a compilation of data assembled by the World Bank * Alternating ...

'' (2023). It marks his first collaboration with G. Marthandan.

and Noufal Abdullah were assigned as the cinematographer and editor, respectively.

Filming

reportedly began on 1 October 2022 in

and

Alappuzha Alappuzha (, आलप्पुळ) or Alleppey is a municipality and town on the Laccadive Sea in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the district headquarters of the district, and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvana ...

. The filming wrapped up in the first week of November 2022. It was reportedly the first film in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

to be completely shot with

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's Venice 2 camera.

Music

The songs were composed by

and the background score was provided by

. The first song "Chathayadina Paatu" was released on 31 August 2023, sung by

Kapil Kapilan Kapil Kapilan is an Indian singer who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. His breakthrough song came with "Adiye" from the Tamil film ''Bachelor''. Early life Kapilan or Kapil Nair born into a Malayali family in Kottarakkara, ...

and written by Anwar Ali.

Release

The film was censored with a U/A certificate by the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...

. ''Maharani'' was released in theatres on 24 November 2023.

Reception

Critical response

Anandu Suresh of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' gave 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "''Maharani'' is a watchable film if you are ready to completely switch off your brain and let the movie guide you on its journey." Anna Mathews of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Ultimately, it feels strange that director G Marthandan, the actors and producer Sujit Balan felt that this story by Ratheesh Ravi was worth their effort." Swathi P. Ajith of '' Onmanorama'' wrote, "The film seems decent but lacks brilliance. Although there are scenes that provoke laughter and curiosity – such as Aji and his gang embarking on a bike journey in search of Rani – the overall impact is moderate." Vignesh Madhu of ''

Cinema Express ''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express, The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Mal ...

'' gave 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The film gets funniest when Roshan, Shine and Johny Antony are together, but this union doesn't happen too often."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 2020s Malayalam-language films Indian comedy-drama films Films scored by Govind Vasantha Films shot in Alappuzha