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Rajadhi Raja (2009 film)

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Rajadhi Raja
Directed bySakthi Chidambaram
Written bySakthi Chidambaram
Produced byRadha Sakthi Chidambaram
StarringLawrence Raghavendra
Mumtaj
Snigdha Akolkar
Kamna Jethmalani
Meenakshi
Karunas
CinematographySuresh Devan
Edited byV. Jai Shankar
Music bySongs
Karunas
Background music
Paul Jacob
Production
company
Cinema Paradise
Distributed byCinema Paradise
Release date
  • 15 May 2009 (2009-05-15)
Running time
158 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Rajadhi Raja (transl. King of Kings) is a 2009 Tamil language masala film written and directed by Sakthi Chidambaram and produced by Radha Sakthi Chidambaram. It stars Lawrence Raghavendra, Mumtaj, Snigdha Akolkar, Kamna Jethmalani, Meenakshi, and Karunas. The film was released on 15 May 2009 and received extremely negative reviews. It was later dubbed in Hindi as Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki.

Plot

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Raja (Raghava Lawrence) is a native of Coutrallam. Tragedy strikes his adolescent life when his father loses his hand when a doctor in an inebriated condition operates on him. The doctor, fearing legal consequences, bribes the local police to take care of the issue. A young Raja witnesses police brutality on his father, causing his latter's death. On his deathbed, his father gets a promise from Raja that he will turn his three brothers into a police officer, a lawyer, and a doctor. Raja realizes his mission and stops his studies to earn money to make his brothers into what he promised. The brothers are provided shelter and food by a local elderly woman (Paravai Muniyamma) whom Raja affectionately calls Paatti (transl. grandmother). She has a granddaughter Lakshmi (Neelima Rani), whom Raja considers as his sister.

Now, Raja, in his adulthood, works as a bus driver, while his three brothers become a doctor, a police officer, and a lawyer as per his father's wish. One day, Lakshmi complains to him about eve-teasers who tried to misbehave with her. Raja dismisses the claim and asks her to attend. She convinces him to come with her. On seeing her, a group of male college students give remarks about Lakshmi's physique and proceed to molest her. Enraged by this, Raja fights and chases them away warning others to stay away from Lakshmi.

Raja is often kidnapped by Thangapazham (Meenakshi), who expresses her love for him and tries to woo him repeatedly. Raja escapes from her while she is distracted. However, Raja's friend Krishnamoorthy (Karunas) in turn expresses his love to Thangapazham, which she blatantly ignores. Meanwhile Shailaja (Mumtaj), a gangster-turned-politician is seen beating up a cop for not falling on her feet. Eventually, she murders him and mocks his dead body for falling on her feet after death. During a college function, Lakshmi and Shailaja get into an altercation. Shailaja takes Lakshmi and humiliates her. Raja comes to Lakshmi's rescue by beating up the goons and humiliating Shailaja by forcing her goons to pose for a few pictures with her in inappropriate positions just like Shailaja did to Lakshmi.

Raja then gets into a local jallikattu competition, which he eventually wins. The organizer, a local village chief, announces that Raja will wed his daughter. He pulls Krishnamoorthy along in this mess. At the wedding, Raja is desperate to escape but unable to do so. Thangapazham enters and stops the wedding by throwing a hand grenade into the crowd, causing people to run. After this, Lakshmi gets sick and is admitted into the hospital run by Raja's brother. However, in Raja's absence, the greedy brother demands money and gets into a fight with Paatti. When she slaps him before his staff and patients, he brutally murders Lakshmi out of rage and sends goons to eliminate Paatti, the only eyewitness. But she reveals to Raja the fact that his brothers are all criminals and then dies. It is revealed that all three brothers are corrupt accomplices of Shailaja.

After learning this, Raja swears an oath to teach his three brothers a good lesson by betraying them while acting to be on their side. While spying on his brothers, he meets with Nikhita (Snigdha Akolkar), a girl who admires Raja for his character. It is revealed that she is the sister of the dreaded Shailaja. The lawyer brother, with the help of a local school's principal, sedates and tries to abuse a student. Raja, wearing a helmet, enters and beats the brother vigorously, saving the girl. His brother cannot see the assaulter's face. Enters nurse Namitha (Kamna Jethmalani), a modern woman ogled by many men in the hospital. Raja eventually ends up befriending her when he tries to perform a stint against his brother to collect evidence.

Raja then witnesses his 2nd brother Esakki brutally stir up a riot and intentionally kill an innocent civilian using a sledgehammer, brutally smashing the civilian's skull. At night, when Esakki pairs up with a high-class prostitute (Babilona) in his police vehicle, Raja ties the vehicle and traps them inside using a crane. Esakki gets caught red-handed the next morning and is suspended from office. The three brothers initially suspect Raja, but he manipulates them into believing that he is innocent.

The 3rd brother, Paal, is a pervert who keeps cameras inside the nurses' dressing room to watch them on his laptop. When Paal leaves the room for operation, Raja breaks the camera and steals Paal's laptop for evidence. Finally, he beats Paal viciously. Later knowing about her sister's love for Raja, Shailaja orders her goons to beat up Raja. He beats them. He then asks Nikhita to slap her sister Shailaja with her sandals to confirm her love for him, which she happily does.

During an award ceremony, Raja blackmails Paal with the previous pieces of evidence he gathered, forcing the latter to announce in front of the crowd that he will perform 100 free heart surgeries. Shailaja later enters the brothers' home for a meet. Fearing recognition, Raja masks his face with shaving cream and mimics a subtle voice. Failing to recognize him, she has a quick conversation with Raja and leaves.

During a visit to a temple function, Shailaja's caravan is abducted and taken control by Raja and Krishnamoorthy. He then forces Shailaja to wear skimpy clothes by blackmailing her using evidence of her murdering a temple official. She agrees out of fear. On seeing her in such skimpy clothes on a temple occasion, people get angry and start riots, thus making her eventually lose her minister position. Angered, she returns to her old gangster form and plots to kill Raja once and for all. She learns that he is the brother of her accomplices through a news clip. The brothers fake their deaths to lure Raja, who is then left for dead after being severely injured by his brothers and Shailaja. However, he was then saved by Krishnamoorthy and Nikhita. He stops the bad guys and Shailaja and eventually kills them. Finally, it is shown that after being released from jail, Raja married Nikhita with Thangapazham's help.

Cast

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Production

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After Sandai (2008), Sakthi Chidambaram announced his next project called Rajathi Raja, the title derived from the 1989 film of the same name.[1][2] Sakthi had acquired the rights of the title from Pavalar Creations, production company of music composer Ilaiyaraaja which produced the original film.[3] The film was launched in July 2008 at AVM Studios.[4]

Snigdha Akolkar was chosen for a role after Kajal Aggarwal, Pooja, Sandhya,[5][6] Namitha, and Lakshmi Rai all pulled out of the film. Actress Sameksha's role was removed as the length of the film was getting too long.[7][8] Meenakshi of Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar[9] and Kamna Jethmalani of Idhaya Thirudan[10] were selected as the other heroines, while Mumtaj was selected to play a negative role and also dubbed her voice for the first time, thus making her comeback.[11]

Soundtrack

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Initially, Dhina was selected as the composer, but he was removed and was replaced by comedian Karunas, who made his debut as music director in this film.[12] Paul Jacob, a Sri Lankan composer who composed for films like Thalaimagan and Kizhakku Kadalkarai Salai, was another composer. The lyrics for all songs were written by director Perarasu. The audio was released on 11 May 2009.

  • "Kandha Kadambha Kathiresa" - Sam P. Keerthan
  • "Elanthapazham (Remix)" - Shakthisree Gopalan, Dinesh
  • "Yaaro Oruthi" - Madhu Balakrishnan, Deepa
  • "Kathirikaa" - Karunas, Grace
  • "Aandipatti Arasampatti" - T. Rajender, Pop Shalini

Critical reception

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Nowrunning wrote: "Rajaathi Raja is such a bad film that the sequence of events in the movie would fail to convince even a three-year-old child".[13] Behindwoods wrote:"Overall, Rajadhi Raja is a tale of gross underestimation of audiences’ tastes. There is a very fine line between being commercial and being crass. Unfortunately, Shakthi Chidambaram finds himself on the wrong side of the line this time".[14] Rediff wrote:"For sheer, mind-numbing crudity, there's no equal to Rajadhi Raja".[15] Sify wrote:"Sakthi Chidambaram’s Rajadhi Raja is the crudest masala movie seen in recent times".[16]

Controversies

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After the release, Chidambaram lashed out at actress Suhasini for giving negative reviews against his film.[17][18]

References

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  1. ^ "Rajathi Raja Six heroines and six villains". IndiaGlitz. 27 July 2008. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Stargazing". The Hindu. 18 July 2008. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Two to tango for Rajadhi Raja". IndiaGlitz. 19 May 2008. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Rajadhi Raja Movie Launch Gallery". Kollywood Today. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  5. ^ "Kajal Agarwal in Rajadhi Raja". IndiaGlitz. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Sandhya out of Rajadhi Raja". Kollywood Today. 5 July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  7. ^ "Samiksha out of Rajadhi Raja". IndiaGlitz. 15 December 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
  8. ^ "Samiksha - in and out". Behindwoods. 5 January 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Is it Meenakshi all the way in Rajadhi Raja?". IndiaGlitz. 21 January 2009. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  10. ^ "Kamnas healthy desire". IndiaGlitz. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Rajathi Raja and his Ranis". IndiaGlitz. 24 April 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  12. ^ "Comedian turns into music director". Behindwoods. 21 January 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Rajathi Raja Review". Now Running. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  14. ^ "Rajadhi Raja - Movie Review". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  15. ^ Pavithra Srinivasan (18 May 2009). "Rajadhi Raja is crude". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  16. ^ "Rajadhi Raja". Sify. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  17. ^ "Director to file legal suit against Suhasini!". Sify. 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  18. ^ "Shakthi Chidambaram lashes out Mani Rathnam's spouse". Kollywood Today. 3 June 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
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