''Rajakumarudu'' (translated in promotional material as ''The Prince'') is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

K. Raghavendra Rao Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...

. It stars

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Awar ...

and

Preity Zinta Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in '' ...

. The film was produced by

C. Aswani Dutt Chalasani Aswani Dutt (also spelled Ashwini Dutt; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian film producer known for his work in the Telugu cinema. He established the film production company Vyjayanthi Movies in 1974 which is one of the biggest produ ...

under the

Vyjayanthi Movies Vyjayanthi Movies is an Indian Production company, film production company established in 1974 by C. Aswani Dutt. It is one of the biggest film production houses in Telugu cinema. Vyjayanthi Movies is especially known for its big-budget product ...

banner.

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

made a guest appearance. The music was composed by

Mani Sharma Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

. ''Raja Kumarudu'' is debut film of Mahesh Babu in a lead role after previous roles as a child actor. The film received positive reviews and was commercially successful. The film won two

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

Plot

Raj Kumar (

) goes on a holiday to

Khandala Khandala is a hill station in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra, India, about from Lonavala, 12 kilometres from Khopoli and from Karjat. Khandala is located at the top end of the Bhor Ghat, a major ''ghat'' (meaning valley i ...

and stays with his uncle Dhananjay ( Prakash Raj). He comes across Rani (

) and falls for her. However, he ends up teasing her and she begins to despise him. She is determined to avoid him, but he won't leave her alone. Raj Kumar saves Rani from some thugs, and she is impressed. After spending some time together, she begins to like him and eventually love him. Unfortunately his uncle has made other plans for him. He reveals the past of the hero's parents and his family. He mentions the challenge that he made with his in-laws to get the hero married to his daughter. Complying to this, the hero informs the heroine that their relationship needs to end there. Going with his uncle to the village for his uncle's daughter, to his joy he sees that it's none other than Rani. The rest of the movie revolves around the plot that is woven by him and his uncle to gain the heroine's hand and re-uniting the uncle with his family. This is done in a fun, comical way.

Cast

as Raja *

as Rani *

as Krishnamurthy * Prakash Raj as Dhanunjay * Jaya Prakash Reddy as Sarvarayudu *

Sumalatha Sumalatha (born 27 August 1963) is an Indian actress, politician who is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. She has acted in more than 220 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. She gained ...

as Rajyalakshmi, Dhanunjay's wife *

Asrani Govardhan Asrani (born 1 January 1940), popularly known simply as Asrani, is an Indian actor and director whose Bollywood career has spanned five decades. He has acted in over 350 Hindi films. Asrani has played the lead roles, character roles ...

as Mumbai Police Inspector *

Srihari Srihari (15 August 1964 – 9 October 2013) was an Indian actor who was active mainly in Telugu cinema. He appeared in a few Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films as well. He won seven Nandi Awards and one Filmfare Award. Early life Srihari was bor ...

as Narsimharayudu *

Brahmanandam Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956), known mononymously as Brahmanandam, is an Indian actor, comedian, impersonator, and voice actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is particularly known for his comic perfor ...

as Hyderabad Police Sub-Inspector Wagle * M. S. Narayana as Police Constable *

Sajja Teja Teja Sajja (born 23 August 1994) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Telugu films. He started his career in 1998 as child actor in the film '' Choodalani Vundi''. Sajja made his debut as an adult in 2019 with the film '' Oh! Baby''. Teja's ...

as Vengalla Rayudu

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

. Music was released on SUPREME Music Company. Telugu Track-list (Original Version) — Raja Kumarudu Hindi Track-list (Dubbed Version) — Prince No. 1 Tamil Track-list (Dubbed Version) — Kadhal Vennila

Release

''Rajakumarudu'' released with 78 prints in 116 screens.

Box-office

The film had a 50-day run in 80 centres and a 100-day run in 44 centres. ''Raja Kumarudu'' collected a share of 10.51 crore from Andhra Pradesh. It was dubbed in Hindi as ''Prince No. 1'' and in Tamil as ''Kaadhal Vennila''. The film was again dubbed and released theatrically in Tamil during January 2017 as ''Ivan Oru Thunichalkaran''.

Awards

;

(in Telugu) * Best Home - Viewing Feature film in 1999. * Best Art Director - Srinivasa Raju

References

{{Reflist 1999 films 1990s Telugu-language films Films directed by K. Raghavendra Rao Films scored by Mani Sharma Indian romantic comedy films 1999 romantic comedy films