''Raajjiyam'' is a 2002 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

-language

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 and produced by

Manoj Kumar Harikrishan Goswami (born 24 July 1937), better known by his screen name Manoj Kumar, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic theme ...

. 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 ...

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, inc ...

Shamita Shetty Shamita Shetty (born 2 February 1979) is an Indian Bollywood actress, model and interior designer. She made her Hindi film debut in the musical romance film ''Mohabbatein'' (2000), which earned her the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – ...

and

Priyanka Trivedi Priyanka Upendra (née Trivedi) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Kannada Language films. Early life Priyanka was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Her mother is from West Bengal and father from Uttar Pradesh. She spent ten yea ...

. The music was composed by

Bharathwaj Ramani Bharathwaj known professionally as Bharadwaj is an Indian music director, composer, singer-songwriter, and music producer, predominantly known for his work in Tamil cinema. He is trained in Hindustani, Western and Carnatic music and is a ...

. The film was released on 12 April 2002, it received mixed reviews and became a commercial failure. The film marked the debut of Malayalam actor

in Tamil cinema.

Plot

Karthikeyan runs a Central Government-authorized Secret Service agency called "Jothi Security Force" under the guise of an organization that helps people arriving in Chennai. He leads a happy life with his wife Geetha, daughter Pooja, and younger brother Surya, a mute. Surya falls in love with Anuradha, a woman that Karthikeyan brings home from the railway station, but her past forces her to reject his romance. When the governor's daughter-in-law dies, Karthikeyan finds out that it was a murder and arrests the governor's son Kiran Kumar. Though the governor congratulates Karthikeyan and appoints him as his personal bodyguard, he is plotting his revenge on him. The innocent Surya is then arrested during a riot. In jail, Inspector Kabilan, who hates Karthikeyan after being humiliated by him and works for the governor, tortures Surya. Kabilan later swaps Kiran Kumar and Surya: Surya gets hooked in jail and Kiran Kumar is secretly released from jail. Karthikeyan eventually discovers the plot and takes revenge by killing Kabilan and the governor.

Cast

as Karthikeyan *

as Surya *

as Geetha Karthikeyan *

as Anuradha *

Vadivelu Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 12 September 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian actor, comedian and playback singer, having acted in supporting and lead roles in Tamil cinema. He gained widespread acclaim in Kollywood in the 2 ...

as Sengalvarayan (Sengal) * Murali as Governor *

Anand Anand may refer to: People * Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name) * Anand (actor), Indian actor * Anand (Maoist), Indian communist * Anand (writer) (born 1936), Indian Malayalam writer Places * Anand ...

as Governor's son * Ponnambalam as Ponnambalam *

Janakaraj Janagaraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 200 films predominantly in Tamil cinema as a comedian or in supporting roles. He also starred in few Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life Janagaraj was born to Vadivelu and Muthul ...

as Governor's PA *

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Mansoor Ali Khan as Inspector Kabilan *Baby Akshaya as Pooja *Rocky as Terrorist *

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

as Convict *

Pandu In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Pandu ( sa, पाण्डु, Pāṇḍu, pale) was a king of the Kuru Kingdom. He was the foster-father of the five Pandava brothers, who were the boons bestowed upon his wife Kunti by a number of deities ...

as Security Officer *

Mohan Sharma Mohan Sharma is an Indian film and television actor, film producer, director and screenwriter, who works in South Indian films. He has produced more than 15 films in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. He became noted through his role in '' C ...

as Deputy Commissioner of Police * Lavanya as Janaki *

Usharani Usharani (29 May 1958 – 20 June 2020) was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. Personal life Usharani married Malayalam movie director N. Sankaran Nair in 1977. Filmography Tamil * Thirumalai Thenkumari (1970) * Kalam ...

as Janaki's mother *

Peeli Sivam P.L. Sivanappan known by his stage name credited as Peeli Sivam (5 July 1938 – 25 September 2017) was an Indian actor who featured around 400 Tamil-language films and plays from 1958–2017. He has featured in several films such as ''Muhamma ...

as Anuradha's father *Vijay Easwaran as Easwar *Kallukkul Eeram Ramanathan as Ramanathan *Kalidoss as Jayapal *Lekhasri as Sneha, Sengalvarayan's lover *

Besant Ravi Besant Ravi (born R. Ravi Kumar; 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor and stunt choreographer. He has played antagonistic supporting roles in Tamil, Hindi and several other Indian language films. Early life Besant Ravi, who was born and brought up ...

as Henchman *Kottai Perumal as Man at the railway station *

Manivannan S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a care ...

in a special appearance

Production

The fight scene between Vijayakanth and Ponnamabalam was taken on a revolving bamboo, with the two men standing on either edge, the scene choreographed by Super Subbarayan. For the set, 20 lorries carrying bamboos were brought in, and set designer Shanmugham arranged them in order to make the place look like a bamboo fortress. It took twelve days to shoot the scene, and canning the shots was Kartikraja. The film was produced at a cost of 7 crore.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Bharathwaj, and lyrics were written by

Snehan Snehan (born Sivaselvam) is a Tamil poet, politician, lyricist, and actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. In the year 2018 he entered politics with Makkal Needhi Maiam and contested in the Lok Sabha election. In 2021 Tamil Nadu Legis ...

Critical reception

Rediff wrote:"Though the film created expectations as a political thriller with Vijaykanth spewing dialogues laden with political nuances, Raajjiyam is about brothers, laced with action sequences".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 12089310 2002 films 2000s Tamil-language films Films scored by Bharadwaj (composer)