4 min readUpdated: Jul 24, 2026 04:14 PM IST
Max, Min & Meowzaki movie review: A film made four years back, releasing only now, suddenly feels current. Mention of protests and placards woven into the plot around an unravelling couple makes you feel that it’s reflecting the times we are passing through. But then, who is to say that thorny relationships and problem-ridden times aren’t the story of us, decade upon decade?
Max (Siddharth Menon) and Min (Medha Shankr), a pair whose relationship is heading south, find themselves connecting over their cat. Or is it just the handsome creature that draws Min back to Max, especially when things aren’t quite as smooth with the new man in her life? The feelings are relatable: if you’ve been together for a while, parting is never easy, and could perhaps encompass residual warmth alongside resentment and sadness.
The elements surrounding them feel refreshingly life-like as well. Bad dates we are desperate to get out of. Parents with whom we are in constant, guilt-ridden conflict. How we deal with those things define who we are, and by the end of this film, we do get to know the contours of its characters, and that’s the best part of the film which begins a little clunkily, and then settles down into its groove, as we go along.
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The most interesting character here is Mahesh aka Max’s near-estranged father, Ramesh (Adil Hussain), a well-to-do businessman. The latter’s brusqueness comes from a broken childhood that is acknowledged when he begins loosening up under the patient ministrations of his therapist, Dhaara (Mandira Bedi, appearing in a series of distractingly gorgeous linen saris). Mahesh’s own father (Nassar), now living in an old age home, was always a distant figure, busy with his career as a successful Carnatic classical singe ; reconciliation and healing becomes a key aspect of the thing between the trio, representing three generations.
A cat called Meowzaki just because the two interfaith (Hindu-Muslim) lovers love Miyazaki is too cutesy for words, but is handsome enough to be forgiven his name. The Max-Min conflict initially feels a little too talky, not enough feely. But the film rescues itself by building upon the connections, and gives the characters a few tics: Max finds it hard to sleep; his sleeplessness finds an echo in a cat-sitter (Vidhatri Bandi), whose grandmother (Nafisa Ali) is in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s. And as we see them begin leaning on, and into each other, we begin to lean into the easy warmth the film is trying to build.
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There are also the unexpected touches which lift the film, especially in the way a lesbian relationship is slipped in quietly, adding to the texture. Menon is a constant presence, and does well as the coming-of-age young man. It is Hussain, as the man who takes the longest, most difficult steps towards self-awareness, who holds this film: despite a few places where the emphasis on the Tamilian vowels is evident– Dhaara becomes Daara– his Ramesh Mahadevan is pitch perfect.
Max, Min & Meowzaki movie cast: Sidharth Menon, Medha Kumarr, Adil Hussain, Vidhatri Bandi, Mandira Bedi, Nassar, Nafisa Ali
Max, Min & Meowzaki movie director: Padmakumar Narsimhamurthy
Max, Min & Meowzaki movie rating: Three stars
