''Mahaveeryar'' is a 2022 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

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by

Abrid Shine Abrid Shine is an Indian film director, screenwriter and fashion photographer in the Malayalam film industry. He made his directorial debut in 2014 with the film ''1983'', which won him the prestigious Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Di ...

, based on a short story by

M. Mukundan Maniyambath Mukundan (born 10 September 1942) is an Indian author of Malayalam literature and a former diplomat. He worked as a cultural attaché at the Embassy of France in Delhi from 1961 to 2004, while concurrently working as an author. Many ...

. It was produced by Pauly Jr. Pictures and Indian Movie Makers. The film stars

Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly (born 11 October 1984) is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, two Kerala Film Critics Association Awards, and ...

, Asif Ali,

Shanvi Srivastava Shanvi Srivastava (born 8 December 1993) is an Indian actress and model who primarily works in Kannada and Telugu films. Srivastava is the only Kannada actress to have won both the SIIMA Critics Award for Best Actress – Kannada for ''Master ...

, Lal, and Siddique. ''Mahaveeryar'' was released in theatres on 21 July 2022.

Plot

The film focuses on justice for a woman by time-travel to a court in the 21st century through the 18th-century lens. The proceedings are snowballed by a time-traveling monk named Apoornnananda Swamikal. The film opens with a funny situation the monk created to set the stage for his case of interest.

Cast

as Swami Apoornnanandan * Asif Ali as Veerabhadran *

as Devayani * Lal as Rudhra Mahaveera Ugrasena Maharaja Thirumannasu * Siddique as MM Veerendra Kumar -Chief Judicial Magistrate *

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian film actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted in over 250 films and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in the Malayalam film in ...

as Public Prosecutor *

Major Ravi Major A. K. Raveendran SM (born 13 June 1958) is a retired officer of the Indian Army, former National Security Guard commando, film actor and film director predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and some films in Tamil and Hindi. He was aw ...

as Veerabhaskar *

Mallika Sukumaran Mohamallika Pillai (born 4 November 1954), better known as Mallika Sukumaran is an Indian actress and businesswoman, known for her works in Malayalam cinema. She debuted in 1974 with the Malayalam film ''Utharayanam'' by G. Aravindan. Since th ...

as Kaladevi *

Vijay Menon Vijay Menon is an Indian actor, editor, director and dubbing artist in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages. He mainly handles in character roles and supporting roles. He has won Kerala State Film Awa ...

as Veerasimhan * Krishna Prasad as Krishnanunni * Prajod Kalabhavan as Veerachandran T. N. * Sudheer Paravoor as Babukuttan * Natasha Singh as Veerabhadran's wife

Production

''Mahaveeryar'' is the third-time collaboration between Nivin and Abrid Shine, after

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

and Action Hero Biju. The film was produced by Nivin's own production house, Pauly Jr. Pictures. After starring together in Rajesh Pillai's

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

and Joshiy's

Sevenes Sevenes is a 2011 Malayalam-language sports-action film written by Iqbal Kuttipuram and directed by Joshiy. The cast includes Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Nivin Pauly, Rejith Menon, Aju Varghese, Vineeth Kumar, and Mithun Ramesh in lead role ...

, Asif and Nivin reunite a decade later in the film. The cinematography was handled by Chandru Selvaraj, and the music was composed by Ishaan Chhabra. Kannada actor

plays the female lead. The principal photography of the film started on 21 February 2021 with a switch-on ceremony in Rajasthan. The major portion was shot in Jaipur. On 20 April 2021, principal photography of the film was completed.

Music

The soundtrack of ''Maha Veeryar'' is composed by Ishaan Chhabra and lyrics by B. K. Harinarayanan and Assanu Anna Augustine.

Release

The film was released in theaters on 21 July 2022. Subsequently, it was released digitally through

Sun NXT Sun NXT (read as "Sun Next") is an Indian subscription video on demand over-the-top streaming service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017 and has content in six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi a ...

on 10 February 2023.

Reception

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 ...

rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "It is the best of times.. If you are in the mood for fun mixed with seriousness, this movie is for you". The perceived drawback of the film was that it does not have any transitory segments/voice-over or creative cues surrounding

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

legal proceeding Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that " e term ''legal proceedings ...

s, and

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

. However, few critics heaped praises on the film. The climax was later changed and was better received and understood by the audience.

Awards

;

Kerala Film Critics Association Awards The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were instit ...

(

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) * Best Story –

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 13557082 2022 films Indian fantasy comedy films 2020s Malayalam-language films Films directed by Abrid Shine Films shot in Jaipur