''Rajadhi Raja'' () is a 1989 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, nativ ...

-language

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

, directed by R. Sundarrajan and written by

Panchu Arunachalam Panchanathan Arunachalam (22 March 1941 – 9 August 2016) was an Indian writer, director, producer and lyricist who worked in Tamil cinema. He was mentored by poet Kannadasan who was his uncle. He also worked as a lyricist in the Tamil cin ...

. The film stars

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

in a dual role, with Nadhiya and

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

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'' was released on 4 March 1989. The film became a box office blockbuster.

Plot

A rich estate owner Vishwanathan is killed by his second wife Sarasu and her brother Aadimoolam for his property. The estate owner's son Rajashekar returns from the United States and learns of this. In order to bring the culprits to book, he makes his friend Sethupathi, a

rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

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, sister of an employee in his estate. In the same village where Raja lives, there exists his lookalike, Chinnaraasu, whose aim in life is to wed his sweetheart Lakshmi. 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

as Rajashekar and Chinnaraasu * Nadhiya as Lakshmi *

as Senkamalam *

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 Aadhimoolam *

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 Nallamuthu Gounder *

Janagaraj 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 Muthu ...

as Sethupathi *

Anandaraj Anandaraj (born May 15, 1959) is an Indian actor. He has acted in villain roles in several Tamil films and has appeared in over a two hundred films in different languages including Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. Career Anandaraj was bor ...

as Kangeyan * Vijayakumar as Vishwanathan *

Y. Vijaya Yenigandla Vijaya (born 8 February 1957) is an Indian actress and classical dancer. She has appeared in more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. Early life and education Y. Vijaya was born on 8 February 1957 in Ku ...

as Sarasu *S. N. Vasanth as Kathavarayan * G. Srinivasan as Advocate Chidambaram *

Pradeep Shakthi Pradeep Shakthi (25 July 1954 – 20 February 2016) was an Indian Telugu actor, director and businessman. Pradeep Shakthi, born as Raja Vasireddy, was from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. He was introduced to Telugu cinema by director ...

as Valparai Varathan *

Idichapuli Selvaraj Idichapuli Selvaraj ( – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor. He acted in more than five hundred films. He acted along with lot of actors. He also worked as an assistant director for the M. G. Ramachandran films like ''Idhayakkani ...

as Hotel servant *

Balu Anand Balu Anand (1954 – 3 June 2016) was an Indian actor and director who worked in Tamil-language films (Kollywood). He appeared in over 100 films as an actor and directed several films, such as ''Naane Raja Naane Mandhiri'', ''Annanagar Mudhal T ...

as Lorry Driver

Production

Development

R. Sundarrajan initially planned to direct ''

Amman Kovil Kizhakale ''Amman Kovil Kizhakale'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by R. Sundarrajan, starring Vijayakanth and Radha. It was released on 24 April 1986, and emerged a commercial success. Vijayakanth also won ...

'' with

which did not happen. When Sundarrajan met

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. The film was produced under Ilaiyaraaja's brother R. D. Bhaskar under their home banner Pavalar Creations. Cinematography was handled by Rajarajan, and editing by

B. Lenin B. Lenin born as Bhimsingh Lenin is an Indian film editor, writer and director who works in Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language, Hindi films. The son of Tamil film maker A. Bhimsingh, Lenin entered the film industry as an assistan ...

and V. T. Vijayan.

Casting

Initially,

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won several ...

and

Rupini Komal Mahuvakar, better known by her stage name Rupini, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu language films during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She started as a child artist in the Hindi film ...

were reported to be the two lead actresses. Due to date clashes, Revathi's role was given to

and Rupini's role to Nadhiya. This was the last film for Radha to act with Rajinikanth and it was the only film for Nadhiya with Rajinikanth.

, who portrayed one of the antagonists, 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". Ravi also intentionally mimicked his father

M. R. Radha Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979) was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (spearhead of acting) by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. He mostly play ...

's voice and took inspiration from his father's character from the 1961 film ''

Paava Mannippu ''Paava Mannippu'' () is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and edited by A. Bhimsingh, who co-produced it under his banner Buddha Pictures, with AVM Productions. The film features an ensemble cast of Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganes ...

''.

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. Radha Ravi 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”. The filming was completed in 50 days.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

Release and reception

''Rajadhi Raja'' was released on 4 March 1989. ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

'' rated the film 43 out of 100. N. Krishnaswamy of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' wrote " icthe film is entertaining despite the abundant cliches and to-the-hilt commercialism".

References

External links

* {{R. Sundarrajan (director) 1980s Tamil-language films 1989 films Films about miscarriage of justice Films directed by R. Sundarrajan Films shot in Ooty Films with screenplays by Panchu Arunachalam Indian action comedy films Indian films about revenge 1980s masala films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja 1980s action comedy films