''Rajee En Kanmani'' ( en, Rajee, my darling, italic=yes) is a 1954 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

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

directed by K. J. Mahadevan and produced by

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

. The film stars

T. R. Ramachandran Thirukampuliyur Ranga Ramachandran (9 January 1917 – 30 November 1990) was an Indian actor and comedian who acted mainly in Tamil films. He was cast mostly in lead or supportive roles, especially in comical parts, from the 1940s to the 1960s. Kn ...

and

Sriranjani Jr. Sriranjani (22 February 1927 – 27 April 1974) was an Indian actress active in Telugu and Tamil films. She was the younger sister of Sriranjani. She is known mainly for her tragedy roles particularly as the long-suffering wife. Life in Brief ...

A remake of

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

's ''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...

'' (1931), it was remade in

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 ...

with the title ''Rajee Naa Pranam'' in the same year.

Plot

Ramu is a homeless orphan. He saves a flower-seller girl, Rajee from a car accident. Rajee is blind. Ramu takes pity on her and helps her in selling flowers. Love develops between them. Ramu happens to know an eye specialist. He takes Rajee to him for consultation. The doctor says her eye sight could be restored but it will cost 1000 rupees. Ramu wants to earn the money by some way. He accepts a challenge by a boxing stalwart and wins the prize money. But two crooks rob the money from Ramu. Then Ramu helps a drunken rich businessman. The rich man gives the money to Ramu as a present. Ramu pays the doctor. Ramu is arrested by the police on a false charge of theft and sent to prison. In the meantime, the doctor performs the surgery and Rajee regains eye sight. She is longing to see Ramu but there is no news about him. Ramu tries to escape from the prison and gets caught. His sentence is extended. Rajee's aunt, who was her only support, dies. The house owner tries to advance on the helpless Rajee. She decides to end her life by drowning in the sea. At the nick of time, she is saved by a woman who is none other than the doctor's mother. She takes Rajee to home. Rajee starts working as a nurse with the doctor. The doctor starts falling in love with Rajee but finds her mind is set with Ramu. There is another woman, Roopa, who has a one-sided love with the doctor. She finds the doctor is interested in Rajee and precipitates matters. The doctor opens his heart to Rajee. Now Rajee is torn between love and gratitude. She decides to leave the doctor's place. But the mother intercepts and pleads with Rajee to marry her son in order to save his life and happiness. Rajee marries the doctor and bears a son. She names the child as Ramu. One day Ramu is released and he comes to the doctor's place to find out whether Rajee got her eyesight back. He now looks like a beggar. When he comes to the doctor's house, Rajee is at the threshold looking at Ramu. But she does not know he is Ramu. Ramu discovers her present position. The events of the day make him realise that her love for him has not diminished over the years. Rajee presents him a flower. He accepts it and fades out of her life with joy without identifying himself to her.

Cast

Cast according to the opening credits of the film and songbook *

as Ramu *

Sriranjani Sriranjani is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a hexatonic scale (''shadava'' rāgam, which means "of six"). It is a derived scale ('' janya'' rāgam), as it does not have all the seven '' swaras ...

as Raji * Sriram as Doctor Ragunath *

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of ...

as Rich Man *

T. P. Muthulakshmi T. P. Muthulakshmi (Native name: தமிழ்: டி. பி. முத்துலட்சுமி) was an Indian actress who was active from the 1950 to 1969. She was a prominent lead comedy actress during the early 1950s in Tamil langu ...

as Sundari * Chandra Babu as Boxing Fan * P. Vasundhara as Roopa * S. Venkat as Referee * T. S. Velayutham as Kannaiah * T. N. Meenakshi as Doctor's mother * G. V. Sharma as Worker *

K. R. Chellam Kambayanatham Rangaswami Kanakavalli (born 1918), known professionally as K. R. Chellam, was an Indian actress who appeared in Tamil language films. Early life Kambayanatham Rangaswami Kanakavalli was born in 1918 to a middle-class Iyengar fam ...

as Raji's aunt * K. S. Hariharan as Municipal Chairman * V. K. Achari as Chandamarudha Singam * Jagadeesan as Boxing Fan * P. Susheela as Sheela * Ganapathi Bhat as Policeman * S. R. Lakshmi as Kumari Mohana * T. S. B. Rao as Dharvan * T. E. Krishnamachari as Magistrate * V. P. S. Mani as Inspector * V. T. Kalyanam as Kailasam * P. K. Krishnan as Boxer * T. N. Govindarajan as Policeman * Master Krishnamoorthi as Baby Ramu * Vimala as Housemaid ;Dance * Roy Chowdhury, Balaraman, Jayaraman, Kantha, Rajeswari, Chellam, Chandra, Jamuna, Chokkamma, Saroja, Sakunthala * Gemini Boys and Girls

Production

The film was produced by

, owner of Gemini Studios, and directed by K. J. Mahadevan. He made ''Rajee En Kanmani'' an adaptation of the 1931

film ''

.'' Mahadevan stuck to the original storyline of ''City Lights'' for the most part and included the "dream ballet" executed by Chaplin in his film. However, Vasan felt it was too "highbrow" and did not include it in the final cut of the film.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

S. Hanumantha Rao Saluri Hanumantha Rao (1917–1980) (Telugu: సాలూరు హనుమంతరావు) was a music composer of South Indian films. He is son of Saluri Sanyasi Raju who was a mridangam player for the concerts of Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu ...

and the lyrics were penned by Sangu Subramaniam. The song "Malligai Poo Jaadhi Roja" sung by R. Balasaraswathi Devi became a hit, and is based on "

La Violetera "La Violetera" is a 1914 cuplé song, with the rhythm of a Habanera (music), habanera, composed by José Padilla (composer), José Padilla and with lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos, originally performed by Carmen Flores and popularized by Raquel Mell ...

", a Spanish copla song composed by José Padilla. ; Telugu version

Reception

The film was praised for its story and the performances of Ranga Rao, Ramachandran and Sriranjani, but became a box office failure.

References

External links

* {{Gemini Studios 1950s Tamil-language films 1954 films 1954 romantic drama films Films about blind people in India Gemini Studios films Indian black-and-white films Films scored by S. Hanumantha Rao Indian remakes of American films Indian romantic drama films Tamil films remade in other languages