Pokkiri Raja (1982 film)

Pokkiri Raja (transl. Rogue King) is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by S. P. Muthuraman and written by Panchu Arunachalam. A remake of the Telugu film Chuttalunnaru Jagratha (1980), it stars Rajinikanth, Sridevi and Raadhika. The film revolves around a man who was framed for murder, and a lookalike who aids him in finding the true killers. It was released on 14 January 1982 and became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.

This article is about the 1982 film. For the 2010 film of the same name, see Pokkiri Raja (2010 film). For the 2016 film of the same name, see Pokkiri Raja (2016 film).

Pokkiri Raja
Poster
Directed byS. P. Muthuraman
Produced byM. Kumaran
M. Saravanan
M. Balasubramaniam
Screenplay byPanchu Arunachalam
Based onChuttalunnaru Jagratha
StarringRajinikanth
Sridevi
Raadhika
Music byM. S. Viswanathan
CinematographyBabu
Edited byR. Vittal
Production
company
Release date
  • 14 January 1982 (1982-01-14)
Running time
138 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Ramesh is the manager of the office of Paranthaman, an industrialist. Paranthaman strongly suspects his relatives to be looting him. Ramesh finds the culprit and keeps a tight leash on everything happening in the office, thereby earning the wrath of the industrialist's relatives. Ramesh and Vanaja (Paranthaman's daughter) initially find themselves at loggerheads, but eventually fall in love with each other. Paranthaman is happy about this development until he sees Ramesh cheating on his daughter. He fires Ramesh the very same day.

Paranthaman is murdered and Vanaja also sees Ramesh in her house that same night. Ramesh is dragged to court and is shortly framed for murder. Vanaja is upset, and the ill-intentioned relatives start closing their net around her, forcing her to marry Chandran, the son of Paranthaman's relative Venkatachalam.

In the meantime, Ramesh meets another person named Raja in prison who looks exactly like him. Together Ramesh and Raja plan to punish the culprits and set the record straight. Chandran later reveals himself and Venkatachalam as the murderers of Paranthaman, but Raja records the entire statement on tape; after Ramesh and Raja subdue Chandran and Venkatachalam's thugs, the tape is played in the court, and both killers are arrested.

Cast

Production

Pokkiri Raja is a remake of the Telugu film Chuttalunnaru Jagratha (1980),[3] and was Rajinikanth's first film opposite Raadhika.[4] M. Saravanan of AVM Productions expressed a desire to remake it in Tamil; he wanted Rajinikanth to play the male lead.[5] Rajinikanth refused to act in the film as he was unimpressed with the Telugu film and character but later relented after Saravanan requested him to act.[6] Saravanan called Visu who, after watching the film, said it could be remade well with minor changes and further developed Radhika's character.[7]

The film was colourised using Eastmancolor.[8] It was Muthuraman's final film as actor and he portrayed a negative role.[9] The crew brought in a dubbing artist to imitate his voice.[2]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by M. S. Viswanathan, with lyrics by Kannadasan and Gangai Amaran.[10][11]

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Kadavul Padachan"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam5:35
2."Naan Pokkirikku"Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki4:42
3."Vaada En Machigala"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:59
4."Vidiya Vidiya Solli"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela4:54
Total length:20:16

Release and reception

Pokkiri Raja was released on 14 January 1982, Pongal day.[5][12] The film became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.[2] Along with Murattu Kaalai (1980), it was responsible for establishing Rajinikanth as a full-fledged action hero.[13]

References
  1. Saravanan 2013, pp. 249–250.
  2. Saravanan 2013, p. 250.
  3. Ramachandran 2014, p. 104.
  4. The Hindu 2012, p. 53.
  5. Saravanan 2013, p. 245.
  6. Saravanan 2013, pp. 246–249.
  7. Saravanan 2013, p. 249.
  8. "In the Foot-steps of the Father". Kisan World. Vol. 9. Sakthi Sugars, Limited. 1982. p. 68.
  9. Majordasan. "Potpourri of titbits about Tamil cinema – Muthuraman". Kalyanamalai. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  10. "Pokkiri Raja (1982)". Music India Online. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  11. "Pokkiri Raja (1984) [sic]". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  12. "Baashha to Darbar: Here is a list of Rajinikanth's Pongal releases that turned super hits". Asianet News. 8 January 2020. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  13. "Box-office badshah". The Times of India. 24 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.

Bibliography
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