Maharaja (Vijay Sethupathi) is a quiet and introverted barber working at Ramki Saloon in Chennai. His days are filled with trimming beards, cutting hair, and listening to the stories of his customers. Despite his reserved nature, Maharaja finds comfort in his routine and in his small family, consisting of his wife and their daughter, Jothi. Life seems ordinary until a tragic incident changes everything.
One fateful day, Maharaja and his family visit a friend’s house. A truck crashes into the house, killing his wife instantly. Amidst the devastation, his daughter, Jothi, miraculously survives when a dustbin topples over and shields her from the debris. Maharaja, devastated by the loss of his wife, clings to the dustbin as a symbol of Jothi’s survival. Over time, both he and Jothi affectionately name the dustbin “Lakshmi,” treating it as a cherished part of their lives.
Years later, Maharaja visits the local police station to file an unusual complaint: Lakshmi has been stolen. He recounts how an armed gang broke into his house, attacked him, and made off with the dustbin. The officers, bemused by the story, mock his attachment to a dustbin and initially refuse to investigate. Maharaja, however, offers a bribe of ₹5 lakhs for the capture of the culprits, prompting the police to take the case seriously. They assign Nallasivam, an unofficial informant known for his shady dealings, to assist in solving the case.
As Maharaja narrates the robbery to the police, the story flashes back to 2009, revealing a darker and more sinister chain of events. Selvam and Sabari, two notorious criminals, terrorized neighborhoods with their brutal crimes. They broke into homes, raped women, and killed anyone who stood in their way. Selvam, however, managed to lead a double life, presenting himself as a devoted husband to his wife, Kokila, and a loving father to their baby daughter, Ammu.
One day, Sabari warns Selvam that their recent crimes have been reported in the newspapers, causing Selvam to worry about being exposed. During this conversation, Selvam happens to be at Ramki Saloon for a beard trim and notices Maharaja in the room. Paranoia sets in, and Selvam suspects Maharaja might have overheard their conversation. Although he quickly leaves the saloon, Selvam accidentally leaves behind a gold chain he had purchased for Ammu’s birthday.
Maharaja, finding the chain, decides to return it to its rightful owner. When he arrives at Selvam’s house, a dramatic sequence of events unfolds. The police, having tracked Selvam and Sabari, raid the house just as Maharaja is at the door. In the ensuing chaos, Sabari is killed, and Selvam is arrested. Kokila, horrified to learn about her husband’s criminal activities, disowns him and vows never to see him again. Selvam, however, assumes that Maharaja tipped off the police and blames him for his downfall. This moment plants the seed of revenge in Selvam’s mind.
In the present, Maharaja encounters Dhana, a delinquent working at a car garage, during a bar fight. Dhana’s aggressive behavior catches Maharaja’s attention, and he begins to suspect that Dhana is involved in the robbery at his home. Meanwhile, the police, eager to close the case quickly, instruct Maharaja to recount the details of the robbery once more so that Nallasivam can fabricate a believable confession.
As Maharaja retells the story, the narrative shifts to a harrowing flashback. The robbery he describes didn’t happen to him—it happened to Jothi. One evening, Jothi returned home from a sports camp organized by her teacher, Aasifa, only to find three intruders waiting inside: Selvam, Dhana, and Nallasivam. Selvam, fueled by his grudge against Maharaja, had tracked him down after 14 years, intending to exact his revenge. However, Maharaja wasn’t home. Instead, the men turned their rage on Jothi. Selvam ordered his accomplices to harm her, believing it would send a message to Maharaja. Dhana and Nallasivam physically assaulted Jothi, and Nallasivam raped her repeatedly.
When Maharaja returned home that night, he found Jothi battered and unconscious. Rushing her to the hospital, he vowed to find those responsible. A receipt that had fallen from Dhana’s pocket provided the first clue, leading Maharaja to the bar where he had seen Dhana earlier. Confronting him, Maharaja demanded the names of the other accomplices. In a heated exchange, Dhana revealed that one of the men was a police informant before Maharaja killed him in a fit of rage. This sequence of events led Maharaja to the police station, where he invented the story about Lakshmi’s theft to avoid drawing attention to Jothi’s assault and his subsequent actions.
Inspector Varadharajan and his team, while investigating Dhana’s death, uncover evidence implicating Nallasivam in the assault on Jothi. Realizing the gravity of the situation, they orchestrate a plan to bring Nallasivam to Maharaja under the guise of returning the stolen dustbin. When Nallasivam arrives at Maharaja’s home, Varadharajan reveals the truth: Nallasivam was one of Jothi’s attackers. The inspector allows Maharaja to deliver vigilante justice, giving him the freedom to act. Maharaja kills Nallasivam but not before extracting the identity of the third accomplice—Selvam.
Determined to finish what he started, Maharaja tracks Selvam to a construction site where he works. He incapacitates Selvam and brings Jothi along to confront him. Jothi, still seething with anger and pain, throws a bag of jewelry at Selvam, assuming he had attacked their family for material gain. Selvam, confused, rummages through the bag and finds the gold chain he had purchased for Ammu years ago. In that moment, he recognizes Jothi’s scar, a distinctive mark she had since birth. The horrifying truth dawns on him: Jothi is Ammu, his own daughter, whom he believed had died in the truck accident years ago.
The story shifts back to the tragedy that had shaped their lives. After Selvam’s arrest in 2009, Maharaja and his family visited Kokila’s house to return the gold chain. While Maharaja stepped out to buy a gift for Ammu, a truck crashed into the house, killing everyone but Ammu, who was saved by the dustbin, Lakshmi. Maharaja, finding the baby alive amidst the rubble, adopted her and raised her as his own daughter, renaming her Jothi to protect her from her past.
In the present, Selvam is overwhelmed by guilt and despair. He had unknowingly been complicit in the assault and suffering of his own daughter. Jothi, accompanied by Maharaja and Aasifa, walks away from the site, leaving Selvam alone to grapple with his actions. Unable to bear the weight of his sins, Selvam takes his own life by jumping from the building.
TRAILER: MAHARAJA
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