Raja (1999 film)

Raja and his friend Balu are petty thieves. One day they steal an idol of Lord Ganesha from a temple. While escaping from the police, they hide in a house, where Anjali, who is a governess taking care of three children, when the others all were out. She locks them in her kitchen for one week, that one-week association with Anjali changes the entire lifestyle of Raja, he starts a new life and slowly falls in love with Anjali. Meanwhile, before leaving the house, Balu steals Anjali's diary, and Raja starts reading the diary.

Anjali is an estranged daughter of lawyer Viswanath, in whose house she is living as a maidservant along with her stepmother Bhagyalakshmi, her sister, sister's husband and their 3 children, without their knowing she is Viswanatham's daughter. Bhagyalakshmi's brother, Sanjay comes from Canada, Anjali likes Sanjay and Viswanatham wants to get them married, but Sanjay says, he needs at least 3 months to decide. After reading this, Raja decides not to express his love and from that day he also makes a habit of writing a diary. Next day when he goes to return the diary, a conflict arises to Anjali because of him, she has been thrown out of the house because of a missed necklace. Raja decides to take care of Anjali, he keeps her in a hostel, works day and night, makes her a singer and takes her to the highest peaks.

Meanwhile, Viswanatham reveals the truth to his family, they all also accept Anjali and everyone comes to stay with Anjali. Even Sanjay also returns from Canada to marry Anjali, Sanjay and Raja becomes good friends, but Bhagyalakshmi and the gang starts to look down Raja and insults him a lot. Once when Anjali went on a foreign tour, they blame a robbery on Raja and send him and Balu away from the house. Anjali returns from the tour, but she does not believe that Raja is a thief and she starts reading his diary which he forgot and understands how much love Raja hidden in his heart for her.

At the same time, Anjali wins a National Award and her family members are making the marriage arrangements of Sanjay and Anjali. Simultaneously, the Govt. arranges a felicitation to Anjali, even Raja and Balu attend the function by hiding in public, but Anjali sees him, she acknowledges her entire success at his feet and decides to marry him, even Sanjay also appreciates her decision. Finally, the movie ends with the marriage of Raja and Anjali.

• Director: Muppalaneni Shiva
• Story: Vikraman
• Producers: R. B. Choudary
• Music Director: S. A. Rajkumar
• Art Direction: Chinna
• Cinematography: Shyam K. Naidu
• Choreography: Raju Sundaram, B. Prema

Music composed by S. A. Rajkumar. Music released on Aditya Music Company.[2]

Deccan Herald wrote "Raja, a simple romantic tale simply told in a simple way, tries to tug your heartstrings. Due to controlled performances from the lead pair, it does succeed to an extent."[3]

• It had a 100-day run in 71 centres.[4]
• It had a 175-day run in 4 centres.

Filmfare Awards South

• Best Film – Telugu - R. B. Choudary
• Best Actress – Telugu - Soundarya
• Best Music Director – Telugu - S. A. Rajkumar

• Raja at IMDb