Sri Raghavendrar

Sri Raghavendrar is a 1985 Tamil-language Hindu mythological film directed by S. P. Muthuraman and was produced by Kavithalaya Productions. The film stars Rajinikanth, portraying the title character (in his 100th film), in the lead. Lakshmi, Vishnuvardhan, Delhi Ganesh and Nizhalgal Ravi play prominent roles. The film is based on the life of Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami. The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics were written by Vaali. The dialogues for the film were written by A. L. Narayanan.

Sri Raghavendrar
Theatrical release poster
Directed byS. P. Muthuraman
Written byAL Narayanan (dialogues)
Story byRajinikanth
StarringRajinikanth
Lakshmi
Music byIlayaraja
CinematographyT. S. Vinayagam
Edited byR. Vittal,
S. B. Mohan
Production
company
Release date
1 September 1985
Running time
160 mins
LanguageTamil

The cinematography was handled by T. S. Vinayagam while the editing was handled by the duo R. Vittal and S. B. Mohan. The film was later dubbed in Telugu as Sri Mantralaya Raghavendra Swamy Mahatyam.[1] The film was released on 1 September 1985 to mixed reception with Rajinikanth's performance as a saint was widely praised. But the film failed at box office.[2] Later, it was dubbed into Hindi as Shree Kishna Bhakt Raghavendra in 2007.

Plot

This film is the life of Sri Raghavendra, from Birth till his Mahasamadhi.

Cast
  • Rajinikanth as Raghavendra Swami
  • Lakshmi as Saraswati Bai, Sri Raghavendra's wife
  • Vishnuvardhan as Devotee and successor of Sri Raghavendra, as Sri Yogindra
  • Sathyaraj as Maqbool Khan, Nawab of Adoni
  • Mohan as As one of his disciples, Mukuntha who went to get married at the Swami's blessings and was assisted by Him to eliminate the demon that came to Srikant's house
  • Delhi Ganesh as Appanacharya (foremost disciple)
  • Major Sundarrajan as King of Tanjavore
  • Y. G. Mahendra as Untruthful Devotee
  • Somayajulu as Guru of Sri Raghavendra, Sri Sudeendrar
  • Thengai Seenivasan as Priest
  • Poornam Viswanathan as Devotee whose son accidentally dies but revived by Sri Raghavendra
  • V.S. Raghavan as Srinivasacharya Devotee who mistreats G.Seenivasan's character Malapa as he is "Lower caste", but is later spiritually enlightened by Sri Raghavendra
  • Nizhalgal Ravi as Venkanna, Diwan of Adoni who is initially portrayed as slow in learning and intelligence but with Sri Raghavendra's blessing becomes the smart minister in the Nawab's cabinet
  • Senthamarai as Tamil Poet
  • Janagaraj as St. Sudeendrar's disciple
  • Veeraraghavan as Seemasachar
  • Srikant as Devotee who is blessed by Sri Raghavendra who protects this family by killing the demon character
  • G. Sreenivasan as "Lower caste" person mistreated by V.S.Raghavan's character initially but blessed by Sri Raghavendra
  • K.R.Vijaya as Devi Saraswathy
  • Manorama as Saraswathi Bai's friend
  • Ambika as Aparajita, Dancer in the court of the Tanjavore King character played by Major Sundarrajan
  • Gopu
  • Venniradai Moorthy

Production

Sri Raghavendra was Rajinikanth's 100th film (including his other language films). The film featured Rajinikanth in the role of saint Sri Raghavendra Swami, different from the larger than life characters which he is known for and portrayed.[3] Rajini who is a fan of Kannada actor Rajkumar, had seen his film called Mantralaya Mahime where Rajkumar portrayed Sri Raghavendra. Rajini approached SP Muthuraman to direct the film. Muthuraman was initially reluctant to direct a devotional film. Balachander encouraged and convinced him to take up the film thus in order to prepare himself to direct the film, Muthuraman watched various devotional films of A. P. Nagarajan who was known for such films. Prior to the start of the film, the team took the script first to the Swami's abode in Mantralayam, and got it blessed. They did the same thing with the first copy, post-completion.[3]

Muthuraman told that during the 90-day schedule all the cast and crew of the film undergone the ritual of fasting on Thursday in reverence to lord's presence considering it was the mythological film.[4]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics for all songs were written by Vaali. The song "Parthale Theriyadha" is based on Anandabhairavi raga.[5] The song "Aadal Kalaiye" is based on Charukesi raga.[6] The song "Azhaikiran Madhavan" is based on Subhapantuvarali raga.[7] The song "Ramanamam" is based on Mayamalavagowla raga.[8] The song "Mazhaikkoru" is based on Amruthavarshini raga.[9]

All lyrics are written by Vaali; all music is composed by Ilayaraja.

Songs
No.TitlePlaybackLength
1."Aadal Kalaiye"K. J. Yesudas 
2."Azhaikiraan Maathavan"Malaysia Vasudevan, K. J. Yesudas, Dinesh 
3."Kathiravan Ezhunthaan"Malaysia Vasudevan 
4."Mazhaikku Oru Devaney"K. J. Yesudas 
5."Paarthale Theriyaatha"Manorama 
6."Raama Naamam"K. J. Yesudas, Vani Jayaram 
7."Unakkum Enakkum"Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki 

Release

The film received tax exemption from Tamil Nadu government thus making it as an eligible film to be watched by everyone.[4]

Accolades

Rajinikanth won Cinema Express Award for Best Actor - Tamil.[10] Daliya Ghose of Bollywood Mantra ranked the film fourth on her list of "Top 10 movies of Rajinikanth" in December 2013, saying: "This film brought out the human side of the actor".[11] In May 2007, K. Balamurugan of Rediff ranked Sri Raghavendrar seventh on his list of "Rajni's Tamil Top 10" films.[12] Behindwoods listed Rajinikanth's Raghavendra as one of his "Top 12 acting performances".[13] In December 2013, The Times of India ranked the film eighth on its list of "Top 12 Rajinikanth movies".[14] Rediff described the film in August 2015 as one of Rajinikanth's best.[15]

Legacy

G. Dhananjayan wrote that it is one of five films the actor considers "close to his heart"; the other four are Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977), Mullum Malarum (1978), Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979) and Enkeyo Ketta Kural (1982).[16]

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-8Rg4RgIC8
  2. "Rajinikanth's 10 Biggest FLOPS". Rediff. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  3. "Rediff on the net, Movies: 'Rajini acts in front of the camera, never behind it'". Rediff. 22 December 1999. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. "ரஜினியின் 100 வது படம் 'ஸ்ரீராகவேந்திரர்': ஸ்டைல்களை ஒதுக்கி விட்டு, மகானாகவே வாழ்ந்து காட்டினார் -- rajinikanth 100th movie sriragavendra cinema history". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  5. "A Raga's Journey — The allure of Anandabhairavi". The Hindu. Charulatha Mani. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  6. "A Raga's Journey — The charm of Charukesi". The Hindu. Charulatha Mani. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  7. "A Raga's Journey — Sorrowful Subhapantuvarali". The Hindu. Charulatha Mani. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  8. "A Raga's Journey — The magic of Mayamalavagowla". The Hindu. Charulatha Mani. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  9. "A Raga's Journey — Appealing Amritavarshini". The Hindu. Charulatha Mani. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  10. ‘Film News', Anandan (2004). Sadhanaigal Padaitha Thamizh Thiraipada Varalaru (Tamil Film History and Its Achievements). Sivagami Publications. p. 738.
  11. Ghose, Daliya (12 December 2013). "Birthday Special: Top 10 movies of Rajinikanth". Bollywood Mantra. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  12. Balamurugan, K. (22 May 2007). "Rajni's Tamil Top 10". Rediff. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  13. "Sri Raghavendra (1985) - Superstar's Top 10 Acting Performances". Behindwoods. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  14. "Top 12 Rajinikanth movies - 08". Times of India. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  15. "40 years of Rajinikanth". Rediff. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. Suganth, M. (26 July 2015). "Panchu Arunachalam is the man who invented Rajinikanth as an actor". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
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