“It was never about a religion, community or sect for me. I was intrigued by the story of a man who, in 1862, stood up for women’s rights. We have only recently started lending our voice to the #MeToo movement, but Mulji was doing this 150 years ago. For me, it is a story about Karsandas Mulji’s journey and not the Maharaj Libel case,” he says adding, “The film is a tribute to this one man’s conviction, integrity and belief in his ideologies. I just felt that assumptions were made about the film’s narrative by many before they even watched the film, and that hurt me.”Maharaj marks the debut of Aamir Khan’s son Junaid Khan, who plays Mulji. The film sees Jaideep Ahlawat as Jadunath Maharaj. Malhotra says both actors were his first choice for the respective roles. “We spent over a year-and-a-half on scripting. In Junaid, we found the honesty and reliability required to play Karsandas. With Jaideep, it was a no-brainer. I feel after Irrfan, who I think was the greatest actor in this country, there is Jaideep. He brings in a plethora of emotions, and he is extremely versatile. To play a complex character such as Jadunath Maharaj, without making him look villainous, loud or garish could have only been done by Jaideep.”Recently, rapper MC Benn, who had worked with Siddharth in Hichki, created a rap anthem highlighting the values embodied by Karsandas. It received overwhelming support from listeners. For Malhotra, the success of Maharaj is, in many ways, his own story of courage and conviction.
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