Rajadhi Raja (1989 film)

Rajadhi Raja (transl. King of Kings) is a 1989 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film, directed by R. Sundarrajan and written by Panchu Arunachalam. The film stars Rajinikanth in a dual role, with Nadhiya and Raadha portraying his characters' love interests. It revolves around Raja, a rich estate owner's son who seeks to avenge his father's death. He is aided in his quest by Chinnarasu, a lookalike.

Rajadhi Raja
Theatrical release poster
Directed byR. Sundarrajan
Produced byR. D. Bhaskar
Screenplay byPanchu Arunachalam
Story byR. Sundarrajan
StarringRajinikanth
Nadhiya
Radha
Music byIlaiyaraaja
CinematographyRajarajan
Edited byB. Lenin
V. T. Vijayan
Production
company
Pavalar Creations
Release date
  • 4 March 1989 (1989-03-04)
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Rajadhi Raja was released on 4 March 1989. The film became a box office blockbuster.[1] This film was dubbed in Telugu as Raajaadhi Raajaa.[2]

Plot

A rich estate owner Vishwanathan (Vijayakumar) is killed by his second wife Sarasu (Y. Vijaya) and her brother Aadimoolam (Radha Ravi) for his property. The estate owner's son Rajashekar (Rajinikanth) returns from the United States and learns of this. In order to bring the culprits to book, he makes his friend Sethupathi (Janagaraj), a rickshaw puller, act as Raja. But soon, Aadimoolam learns of this, kills Sethu and frames Raja as the killer. Raja is sentenced to death. In between, Raja loves Senkamalam (Radha), sister of an employee in his estate.

In the same village where Raja lives, there exists his lookalike, Chinnaraasu (Rajinikanth), whose aim in life is to wed his sweetheart Lakshmi (Nadhiya). Raja escapes from jail, meets Chinnaraasu and makes Chinnaraasu take his place in jail. After many twist and turns, Raja brings the culprits to book. At the end, Raja marries Senkamalam and Chinnarasu marries Lakshmi.

Cast

Production

Development

R. Sundarrajan initially planned to direct Amman Kovil Kizhakale with Rajinikanth which did not happen. When Sundarrajan met Panchu Arunachalam who was finding plot for a new project with collaboration of S. P. Muthuraman and Rajinikanth, he narrated the plotline of Rajathi Raja which impressed both Rajinikanth and Arunachalam. Rajinikanth insisted Sundarrajan to direct the film who relented after initial rejections to direct the film.[3] The film was produced under Ilaiyaraaja's brother R. D. Bhaskar under their home banner Pavalar Creations.[4] Cinematography was handled by Rajarajan, and editing by B. Lenin and V. T. Vijayan.[5]

Casting

Initially, Revathi and Rupini were reported to play the two female characters in the film. Due to date clashes, Revathi's role was given to Radha and Rupini's role to Nadhiya.[5] This was the last film for Radha to act with Rajinikanth and it was the only film for Nadhiya with Rajinikanth.[4]

Radha Ravi, who portrayed one of the antagonists in the film, initially "approached the role like a serious villain". However, when he was told that his character knows Rajinikanth’s real identity, "I decided to play the character like a muff, and when I suggested the idea to director Sundarrajan, he accepted it".[4] Radha also intentionally mimicked his father M. R. Radha's voice and took inspiration from his father's character from the 1961 film Paava Mannippu.[4] Radha Ravi also said Rajinikanth wanted this scene where there will be a snake in the hand, Sundarrajan "wasn’t keen on having this as he felt it was over the top" but Rajinikanth insisted on this scene because “he liked to have a snake scene in his films for sentimental reasons”.[4]

Filming

The song "Vaa Vaa" was initially planned to shoot at Ooty but due to heavy rainfall, the crew then decided to shoot the song at Coonoor and again went back to Ooty during its non rainy day and completed the remaining shoot.[3] The filming was completed in 50 days.[3]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.[6][7]

No.SongSinger(s)LyricsLength (m:ss)NotesSong number in the film
1"Meenamma Meenamma"Mano, K. S. ChitraPiraisoodan04:38Rajinikanth, RadhaFifth (Last song)
2"Maama Un Ponna Kodu"S. P. BalasubrahmanyamGangai Amaran04:25Rajinikanth, NadiyaFourth
3"Malaiyaala Karaiyoram"ManoVaali04:42RajinikanthFirst
4"Enkitta Modhadhe"Mano, K. S. ChitraPonnadiyan04:51Rajinikanth, NadiyaSecond
5"Un Nenja Thottu Sollu" (Album Only)P. Susheela & K. S. ChitraGangai Amaran04:38(Not in the movie, Rajini,Radha,Nadiya)
6"Vaa Vaa Manjal Malare"Mano, S. P. SailajaIlaiyaraaja04:34Rajinikanth, RadhaThird
7"Ulaga Vaazhkkaiye"S. P. BalasubrahmanyamIlaiyaraaja00:58Rajinikanth
8"Adi AathuKulla Aathimaram"S. P. BalasubrahmanyamIlaiyaraaja01:18Rajinikanth

Release

Rajadhi Raja was released on 4 March 1989.[8] Ananda Vikatan rated the film 43 out of 100.[9] N. Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express wrote "[sic] the film is entertaining despite the abundant cliches and to-the-hilt commercialism".[10]

Reception

Rajini's performance in action scenes and comedy scenes were praised by the audience. The audience loved the chemistry of Rajini and Radha and especially their dance performance in Meenamma Meenamma song became famous. After the release of this film the song Mama Un Ponna Kudu with Rajini and Nadiya dancing played on all marriage functions. The movie became super hit and ran more than 100 days in many theaters.

Performance

Rajini steals the show with his mass performance and action stunts as Raja and similarly as an innocent guy as Chinnarasu. Again Rajini proved his versatility acting between 2 characters. Nadhiya, as a modern girl performs well in comedy scenes with Superstar. She dances well with Superstar in both songs. Radha, as a village girl portrays her character well. She helps the hero in his mission and dances well in her duet songs. Superstar Radha chemistry worked out well in Meenamma Meenamma song. Radha ravi as villain makes the viewers to remember his father through his voice and body language. Janagaraj even though comes only for the half of the movie, makes us to laughs for some scenes at the same time makes us to feel for an emotional scene. Illayaraja again proved magic in his album. The movie has 5 songs and all are chart busters and evergreen till now. Finally Sunderrajan, the captain of the ship gave the audience a movie with all commercial elements, which worked well and made the audience happy.

References
  1. http://rajinifans.com/boxoffice/rajathi-raja.php
  2. "Jyothichitra_1990_02_16_08.jpg". Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. Guna, M. (27 March 2019). "``ஒன்லைன் வாய்ப்பு, ஊட்டி மழை, ரஜினி சொன்ன சஜஷன்!" - ஆர்.சுந்தர்ராஜன் #30YearsOfRajathiraja" [One-line opportunity, Ooty rainfall, Suggestion given by Rajini – R. Sundarrajan]. Ananda Vikatan. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  4. Suganth, M. (4 March 2019). "Celebrating 30 years of Raajadhi Raja". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  5. "ராஜாதி ராஜா (1989)". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  6. "Rajadhi Raja (1989)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  7. Ilaiyaraaja (1989). ராஜாதி ராஜா [King of kings] (liner notes) (in Tamil). Echo. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019.
  8. Sreekanth, Gayathri (2008). "Complete Filmography". The Name Is Rajinikanth. Om Books International. ISBN 978-81-87108-44-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  9. "சினிமா விமர்சனம்: ராஜாதி ராஜா". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 26 March 1989. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  10. Krishnaswamy, N. (17 March 1989). "Rajathiraja". The Indian Express. p. 5.
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