''Gajendra'' is a 2004

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Suresh Krishna. The film stars

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and Laya. The film, produced by V. A. Durai, had musical score by

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

and was released on 17 September 2004 to negative reviews. The film is remake of

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

blockbuster film '' Simhadri'' and was later dubbed into

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as ''Return of Khuda Gawah'' in 2010.

Plot

An orphan and good hearted lad Gajendra (

) is 'adopted' and grows up under Azhagarsamy (

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and ...

) family care in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. The Bond they share is like father and son. Kasturi (

Flora Saini Flora Saini, also known by her screen name Asha Saini, is an Indian actress and model. She predominantly works in Bollywood, and also appeared in a number of Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. Since her debut in ''Prema Kosam'' (1999), she has a ...

) is Azhagarsamy's granddaughter, and she likes Gajendra a lot. Once a week, Gajendra meets a mentally challenged girl Indu ( Laya). He Entertains her provides money for her caretakers. When Azhagarsamy and his wife ( Lavanya) discover Kasturi wants to marry Gajendra, Azhagarsamy decides to get them married. He makes a formal announcement to officially adopt Gajendra. At this time, it is revealed that Gajendra is very close to Indu. The alliance breaks off when Gajendra refuses to leave Indu (who is suspected to be his mistress). Meanwhile, two separate groups are in search of Gajendra. They find him at the banks of Kaveri River along with Indu. In the ensuing confrontation between one group of gangsters and Gajendra, Azhagarsamy and his family are surprised to see that Gajendra, who used to be calm and composed, is ruthlessly killing many rowdies without mercy. Meanwhile, Indu gets injured. Gajendra is helped by the second group, who call him 'Andhra Gaja'. When Indu comes back to her senses, she remembers her past and the first thing she does is stab Gajendra with an iron pole. Gajendra is hospitalized in critical condition. Then we see many buses carrying hoards of people demanding to see 'Andhra Gaja'. The leader of the second group, who was searching for Gajendra, explains the 'Andhra Gaja' story in a flashback. In the flashback, it is revealed that Azhagarsamy's oldest daughter Mahalakshmi (

Seetha Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

) elopes with her lover, a Hyderabadi named Aravind ( Rajeev). After some harsh words and saddened over Azhagarsamy's rejection over her choice to marry her love, they both settle in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. Learning of the sadness surrounding Azhagarsamy and his wife, Gajendra takes up the job of uniting the family and visits

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. He joins the medical and spiritual therapy

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

operated by Mahalakshmi and her family under the disguise of a patient. He finds that Indu is Azhagarsamy's first granddaughter. He convinces the separated family to reunite and ask for forgiveness. During this time, Mahalakshmi is killed by a local goon Chhota Babu (

Rajat Bedi Rajat Narendra Bedi is an Indo-Canadian actor, who primarily appears in Hindi cinema. He is best known for portraying Raj Saxena in the film '' Koi... Mil Gaya'' (2003). Career Bedi has worked over 40 films, including ''Rakht'' (2004), '' Kham ...

). A don named Rana (

Nawab Shah Nawabshah ( sd, نوابشاھ, ur, ) is a tehsil and headquarters of the Shaheed Benazirabad District of Sindh province, Pakistan. This city is situated in the middle of Sindh province. It is the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 27th ...

) controls the mafia of Andhra Pradesh. Chhota and Rana belong to the same mafia. Gajendra takes the law into his hands and eradicates Bala and his small gang in Andhra Pradesh. The local Andhra people start calling him 'Andhra Gaja'. In the ensuing scenes, Gajendra finds himself developing into "Gajendra," eradicating Rana's network and illegal activities. Indu finds herself alone and constantly worrying about him. She proposes to her father that they should return to

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

because she cannot stand their home without her mother, and Gajendra ignores her now. Indu and Aravind decide to return to Chennai. Gajendra receives a call that Indu's father is carrying a bomb in his briefcase. Aravind is seen rushing to catch a moving train, and Indu was about to lend him a hand. Unable to warn him, Gajendra has two choices: to let Indu's father die so people on the train can live, or let the bomb kill everyone on board, including Indu and her father. Gajendra chooses the first option. As soon as Aravind catches the train bar handle, Gajendra shoots him in the back. Surprised at Gajendra's action, Indu jumps off the train to catch her falling father, and she gets hit her head against a pole, causing her amnesia and becoming mentally challenged. After the flashback ends, people are seen and heard chanting ''Gaja Gaja'' outside the hospital. Rana and his men arrive at the hospital to finish off Gajendra. But Gajendra has gained consciousness, and with the help of his friends, police and family (now reunited), he takes down Rana and his army.

Cast

as Gajendran aka Andhra Gaja *

as Kasthuri * Laya as Indhu *

as Azhagarsamy / Azhagar Ayya *

as Rana *

as Chotta Babu *

as Mahalakshmi * Rajeev as Aravind *

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi (born 29 July 1952) is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brother of Raadhika. He is a ...

as ACP Soukath Ali *

Ramesh Khanna Ramesh Khanna (also spelt as Ramesh Kanna) is an Indian actor and film director who has worked in Tamil cinema. He has acted in a number of supporting and comedian roles. Early life Khanna was born on 12 June 1954 in Chennai and third child to ...

as Pazhaniappan *

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Badaga and Malayalam mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in ...

as Peedhambaram *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

as Azhagarsamy' second son-in-law *

Mahanadi Shankar Mahanadi Shankar is an Indian stage, film and television actor, who has appeared in Tamil language films and serials as supporting actor and negative roles. He has appeared in films including ''Mahanadi'' (1994), ''Baashha'' (1995), ''Ratchagan ...

* M. S. Bhaskar as Fake patient *

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...

as Rana's Henchman * Lavanya

Production

The film was shot at locations in Rameswaram, Pushkarani, Tiruchandur, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Hyderabad. A stint of shooting took place at the Ram temple, Hyderabad. There are five fight scenes in the film, choreographed by stunt master Rocky Rajesh. One of them was picturised in the forest areas near Thalakkonam and took 15 days to complete. Yet another fight scene was shot in the Godavari river. It took five days to shoot, in front of a huge crowd. This was the fight scene where a stunt man lost his life in the water.

Soundtrack

The film score and the soundtrack were composed by

. The soundtrack, released in 26 August 2004, features 5 tracks but only two songs are placed in the film. The lyrics written by Kabilan and

Pa. Vijay Pa. Vijay is an Indian actor, poet, writer, director, producer and film lyricist for Tamil cinema. He won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics in India for his song '' Ovvoru Pookalume'' in Cheran's ''Autograph'' (2004). Career Vijay is a na ...

. "Gaja Varanda" was reused from Deva's own Kannada song "Banda Nodamma" for Kannada film ''Kadamba'' (2003).

Reception

''IndiaGlitz.com'' described the film as a "bad remake". ''Sify.com'' said that the film is a "waste of time".

References

External links

* {{Suresh Krissna 2004 films 2004 action drama films Films shot in Telangana Tamil remakes of Telugu films Films shot in Chennai Indian action drama films 2000s masala films Films directed by Suresh Krissna Films scored by Deva (composer) 2000s Tamil-language films