Raja Chinna Roja

Raja Chinna Roja (transl. King and small rose) is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language children's film, directed by S. P. Muthuraman, and produced by M. Saravanan and M. Balasubramaniam of AVM Productions. The plot revolves around Raja (Rajinikanth), who arrives in the city to become an actor. In the process he meets his childhood friend and is forced to take care of his nieces and nephews.

Raja Chinna Roja
Poster
Directed byS. P. Muthuraman
Produced byM Saravanan
M. Balasubramaniam
Written byPanchu Arunachalam
Starring
Music byChandrabose
CinematographyT. S. Vinayagam
Edited byR. Vittal
C. Lancy
Production
company
Release date
  • 20 July 1989 (1989-07-20)
Running time
145 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Raja Chinna Roja was the first Indian film to feature live action with animation. The film's cinematography was handled by T. S. Vinayagam, while the editing was done by the duo R. S. Vittal and Lancy respectively. The soundtrack was composed by Chandrabose, with the song "Superstar Yaarunu" remaining popular today.

Raja Chinna Roja was released on 20 July 1989. The film was commercially successful, and had a 175-day theatrical run.

Plot

An aspiring actor Raja (Rajinikanth) from a village get into a fast city which is full of crooks and drug dealers. As he searching for a place in the dream factory, he falls for the daughter of the house owner (Jaiganesh) Usha. Charmed by his looks and character, Usha (Gowthami) also falls for him. One day he accidentally meets his childhood friend Bhaskar (Raghuvaran), who is a spoiled rich guy. He offers Raja an acting job, then takes him to his uncle's house. Raja is to be in charge of the administration of the household and take care of five children (Bhaskar's nieces and nephews), each of whom have issues (such as being lazy, not studying etc.). Raja finds out that Bhaskar is cheating his uncle out of funds and using him to do the same. Bhaskar is involved in drug business along with his associates (Azhagu, Kitty). Ravichandran who gets temporary blindness, recovers from the problem and pretends to be blind in order to find out the truth of Bhaskar. After finding out the truth, Ravichandran throws Bhaskaran out of the home. In retaliation, Bhaskar takes away his uncle's car resulting in Ravichandran getting arrested for drugs. Raja, along with the children goes to Bhaskar's den and catches him red-handed. The film ends with Raja finally achieving his ambition to become a film star.

Cast
  • Rajinikanth as Raja (Kumarappa), a youth who wants to become an actor
  • Gouthami as Sumathi, the house owner's daughter who falls in love :-) with Rajini

Production

Development

After the success of Manithan (1987), M. Saravanan of AVM Productions decided to produce another film with the same cast and crew: director S. P. Muthuraman, hero Rajinikanth and composer Chandrabose. Saravanan wanted to make a film "targeted at kids" due to Rajinikanth's popularity among children. The crew initially wanted to adapt Babu (1971); however, Rajinikanth "felt that the script seemed more like an art film, on the lines of Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai and Engeyo Ketta Kural" and it would not suit his image. Screenwriter Panchu Arunachalam reused the script of his own film Unnaithan Thambi (1974) and "decided to have a story that involved a bunch of kids and decided to follow the successful formula that was laid out by films like The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins".[1]

Casting

Gautami was selected as the lead actress while Shalini was cast among the child artists. Ravichandran was cast as a rich man and Raghuvaran was chosen to portray a negative role after the makers were impressed with his performance in the television series Oru Manithanin Kadhai.[1]

Filming

Raja Chinna Roja was the first Indian film to feature live action with animation.[2] It was Saravanan's wish to do this, without any budgetary constraints.[3][4][5] He also wanted AVM to become the first Indian studio to do this.[2] The idea of blending live action with animation was inspired by Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).[6][7] The animated song was shot at a forest set built by art director Chalam at AVM Studios with all the artists involved. Puliyur Saroja, choreographer of the song along with her assistants enact like animals to "evoke the appropriate reaction from the artistes".[2] The animation was done by Ram Mohan, who "ended up drawing 84,000 sketches for this song as every frame had to be drawn individually".[1][5]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack consist of seven songs composed by Chandrabose and written by Vairamuthu.[8] The song "Superstar Yaarunu Ketta" was well-received and was remixed by Chandrabose's son Santhosh Bose for the film Kalayatha Ninaivugal (2005).[9]

Raja Chinna Roja
Studio album by
Chandrabose
Released1989
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelAVM Audio
Chandrabose chronology
Karunguyil Kundram
(1989)		 Raja Chinna Roja
(1989)		 Pudhea Paadhai
(1989)
No.SongSingersLength
1"Super Staru"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. P. Sailaja04:25
2"Raja Chinna Roja"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam04:46
3"Varungala Mannargale"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam04:23
4"Oru Panbadu"K. J. Yesudas04:32
5"Ongappanukkum Pe Pe"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S P Sailaja03:43
6"Poo Poo Pol"Mano05:14
7"Devaadhi Devar Ellaam"Malaysia Vasudevan04:57

Release

Raja Chinna Roja was released on 20 July 1989 and became a commercial success, with a 175-day theatrical run.[1] The animated sequence was well received, and brought repeat audiences to theatres.[10][11]

References
  1. Suganth, M. (20 July 2019). "Movie Milestone: 30 Years Of Raja Chinna Roja". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  2. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (20 July 2019). "'Raja Chinna Roja' turns 30: When Rajinikanth danced with cartoon rabbits and elephants". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  3. Ashok Kumar, S. R. (14 May 2004). "Finger on people's pulse". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  4. "'ஏவி.எம்'மின் 'ராஜா சின்ன ரோஜா' கார்ட்டூன்களுடன் ரஜினி நடித்தார்!- 80 ஆயிரம் படங்களை வரைந்து உருவாக்கிய காட்சி!". Maalai Malar. 11 December 2012. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  5. Saravanan 2013, p. 321.
  6. Ramachandran, Naman (2012). Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. Penguin Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-670-08620-7.
  7. Jeshi, K. (18 March 2014). "Director's chair". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. "Raja Chinna Roja (1989)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  9. "Behindwoods: Remix Magic". Behindwoods. 9 June 2005. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  10. "Mahesh Bhatt mixes biography and business in his latest venture, Daddy". India Today. 31 August 1989. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  11. Saravanan 2013, pp. 321–322.

Bibliography
  • Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 Cinema (in Tamil). Rajarajan Pathippagam.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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