Kiccha Sudeep’s Max director Vijay Kartikeyaa addresses film’s comparisons with Karthi’s Kaithi

When the team of the Kannada film Max, led by superstar Kiccha Sudeep was still shooting in Mahabalipuram, news spread that he was playing a suspended cop and that the story takes place over one night only. Add to that a synopsis that dropped on a ticket aggregator site and netizens quickly put 2 and 2 together and rumours spread that Max was the unofficial remake of the Telugu film Krack, starring Ravi Teja. While the team had dispelled these rumours, once the film released in theatres, and later on OTT, it was compared to the 2019 Tamil film Kaithi, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and featuring Karthi in the lead.

Vijay Kartikeyaa: Lokesh Kanagaraj has set a benchmark for one-night stories with Kaithi

In a conversation with Cineulagam, the filmmaker addressed all the talk about Max being like Kaithi , saying that he was not affected by the comments or criticism. “See, in a year, there are at least 10-20 films with stories spanning over just one night. Lokesh Kanagaraj has set a benchmark for one-night stories with Kaithi. The problem now is that a lot of people may refrain from attempting a story set over one night because it would be compared to Kaithi. Yes, both Max and Kaithi revolve around a police station, but they are very different films,” states Vijay.

Also read: Kiccha Sudeep’s Max movie plot revealed; netizens call it unofficial Krack remake 

The filmmaker admits that when he finished writing the script of Max, the thought did cross his mind that it was a tad like Kaithi. “But then when I analysed, I realized the differences. Moreover, when I told the story to producer Thanu sir, he would not have decided to back it if he felt it was like Kaithi. Similarly, Sudeep sir would not have agreed to act in it if he thought there were too many common factors. This gave me the confidence that my script had some variety in it,” he says.

Also read: Max movie review: Kiccha Sudeep is at his A-game in maximum mass one-man show 

Max followed Sudeep as Arjun Mahakshay, a cop who is set to end a recent suspension and resume duty, when the station he’s heading to comes under attack following the arrest of two men associated with a local gangster. How Arjun, aka Max, deals with the threat to the station and his subordinate officers, forms the crux of the tale. The film also stars Ilavarasu, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Pramod Shetty, Sharath Lohithashwa, Sunil, Samyukta Hornad, Sukrutha Wagle, Ugramm Manju, Vamsikrishna, Redin Kingsley, Vijay Chendoor, among others.

Max dropped on Zee5 on February 15. Max can also be streamed on OTTPlay Premium.