''Raja Rani'' () is a 1956 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 film directed by

A. Bhimsingh A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 films in Telugu, 5 films in Malayalam and 1 film in ...

and written by M. Karunanidhi. The film stars

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

and Padmini. The film was produced by National Productions . It was released on 25 February 1956.

Plot

Rani is the only daughter of an impoverished, visually challenged man. Her hunt for a job ends when she is engaged as a box office window ticket vendor at a drama company by its owner Babu. During a play, some gangsters rob Rani of the day’s collection, drug her and escape with the booty. The evil-minded Babu who turns up later tries to take advantage of Rani’s condition. However, she escapes from him and jumps into a car, falling unconscious in the rear seat. Raja is the owner of an electrical goods company with a passion for theatre and is the lead player in Babu's drama troupe. Unaware of the turn of events, Raja reaches home. He is surprised to find a girl in his car. Then he comes across a news item that a rich man’s daughter named Leela has run away from home. He thinks the girl in the car is Leela. Pretending to be Leela, Rani starts acting in the drama troupe. The two fall in love. Raja then launches his own drama company and stages

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, playing the title character. Babu tries to wreck the love of Raja and Rani, and so adds real poison to the drink to be given to Raja in the scene that has Socrates drinking poison. How the lovers get united forms the rest of the film.

Cast

;Male *

as Raja *

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. Film career Rajendran made his acting de ...

as Babu *

N. S. Krishnan Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar () and also as NSK, was an Indian actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is conside ...

as Samarasam * K. Durai Sami as Gnanakannu * M. N. Krishnan as Current ;Female * Padmini as Rani * Raja Suclochana as Geetha * T. A. Mathuram as Shantham * Angamuthu as Geetha's mother

Production

After the success of '' Parasakthi'' (1952), many producers approached M. Karunanidhi to write scripts for them. One of the films he wrote was ''Raja Rani''.

was cast as the lead actor, making this the first of 18 collaborations with director

. The film was shot at the now-closed Newtone Studios in

Kilpauk Kilpauk is a semi residential area located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Poonamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent areas of Kilpauk include Chetp ...

. It's owners were Dinshaw K. Tehrani and Jiten Banerjee, who supervised the audiography and cinematography respectively. G. Vittal Rao handled the camera. The dances were choreographed by Hiralal and Sampathkumar. The film also features two plays: one based on

, and another on Cenkuttuvan.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by T. R. Pappa while the lyrics for songs were written by M. Karunanidhi,

A. Maruthakasi A. Maruthakasi (13 February 1920 – 29 November 1989) was an Indian poet and film lyricist who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. He penned more than 4000 lyrics in more than 250 Tamil films. Early life Born in Melakudikadu in Tiruchirappal ...

, K. P. Kamatchi, M. K. Athmanathan, Villipuththan and Vivekan. The songs were well received especially songs like ''Manippura Pudhu Manippuraa'' by M. L. Vasanthakumari and ''Sirippu Idhan Sirappai'' by N. S. Krishnan & T. A. Madhuram.

Release and reception

''Raja Rani'' was released on 25 February 1956, and distributed by Subbu & Co. Kanthan of ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...

'' stated that the film was entertaining piece by piece.

References

External links

* {{A. Bhimsingh 1950s Tamil-language films 1956 films Films about actors Films about theatre Films directed by A. Bhimsingh Films scored by T. R. Pappa Films with screenplays by M. Karunanidhi