''Rajaraja Cholan'' is a 1973 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

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

directed by

A. P. Nagarajan Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan (24 February 1928 – 5 April 1977) was an Indian film director, producer, actor and writer who set a trend in film making in Tamil cinema from 1965 to 1977. Film career Nagarajan started his own drama c ...

and written by Aru Ramanathan. Based on Ramanathan's play of the same name about the life of the

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

king

Rajaraja I Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...

, 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 ...

in the title role and was the first Tamil

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

film. It was released on 31 March 1973, and ran for over 100 days in theatres.

Plot

While the Brihadeswara Temple in Thanjavur is being constructed, Emperor Rajaraja Cholan arrives, everyone greets him but a sculptor, whose dedication pleases him. The emperor and empress leave to meet Karuvur Devar and are introduced to Tamizarasi, a poet and drama writer. Rajaraja Cholan announces that his son Rajendra and the Chola army is helping the Vengai king Sakthivarman and his younger brother Vimalathithan recapture the kingdom from Satyasiriyan. Satyasiriyan runs back into his palace whose minister, Bala Devar, devises a plan to destroy Raja Raja Chola. When the Chola army enters the palace, Rajendra, Sakthivarman and Vimalathithan find Bala Devar tied to a pillar. He claims he asked Satyasiriyan to not fight but he never listened and he was about to get killed by Sataysiriyan when the Chola army entered the palace and Satyasiriyan ran away. After revealing one of the soldier's is Rajaraja Cholan in disguise, Rajaraja declares Bala Devar as his minister in spite of others not trusting him. Rajaraja leaves for the capital with Bala Devar. Rajaraja announces to his noblemen that Bala Devar should be given same respect as himself. A lady comes to meet Bala devar and announces she is Poonkodi from the same village as him. Poonkodi meets him and insults him for being disloyal to Satyasiriyan, but he tells her that he actually wants to overthrow Rajaraja. They both work together and he asks her to stay back in the Chola capital. Kundavi is informed by Rajendra that he got a special gift when Vimalathithan enters. Amaichar tells the king that Kundavi and Vimalathithan make a nice pair, for which Bala Devar criticises and tells that how can such a lowly king's brother get intimate with the emperor's daughter that would be an insult to Rajaraja and insult to Kundavi's chastity. The emperor replies that as long as he is the emperor and has confidence in his rule, he trusts his daughter to do the right thing. Rajaraja goes to the temple, where Nambiyandar Nambi comes to pay his respects. He tells that via divine intervention, Nambi found the presence of script in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, which are the great works of saints Sampantar, Appar and Sundarar. Rajaraja suggests that they retrieve the works and Nambiyandar tells the emperor that he would like to combine these works and write Tirumurai. The Emperor, his sister and Nambi go to Chidambaram temple to open the chamber, but the priest Dikshitar informs them that all three saints have to come to open the chamber. Rajaraja's men get three palanquins and he opens them to show the golden statues of the saint-poets. the priest asks how can these statues be saints? Rajaraja responds by saying, if the golden statue of Nataraja is God himself then why can't these statues be saints? These saints have no death, as they are eternal due to their works. The priest relents and gives the keys to the chamber where Rajaraja and Nambi find the moth-eaten scriptures. Bala Devar lets Satyasiriyan through a secret passage into his house in the Chola capital, and is asked about the Chola emperor and when his son could marry Kundavi.. Rajaraja admonishes Vimalathithan as his elder brother appears too busy to pay respects to the emperor, and Vimalathithan defends him. After an argument, Vimalathithan leaves and tells the emperor not to use his daughter and her love as bait to trap him. Kundavi is heartbroken, but swears that a person who does not respect her father shall not be her husband. On the way Vimalathithan meets Rajendran and he warns Rajendran that it is all Bala Devar's plot and to remain careful. Rajendran tries to confront his father, but Rajajraja dismisses him. The temple is completed and the emperor announces that his daughter Kundavi shall perform her Arangaitram on the temple opening day. The emperor, at Bala Devar's insistence, does not send an invitation to Vengi or Vimalathithan. Rajendra decides not to attend the event after hearing this. On the day Vimalathithan arrives and informs the emperor that as he was not invited he shall sit along with the common people to watch Kundavi's dance. Kundavi dances but makes a mistake that Vimalathithan points out. Rajaraja tells him it is enough that he insulted his daughter. Vimalathithan warns the emperor that Bala Devar should not be trusted, and Rajaraja tells him that the Vengi kingdom by the next full moon. Vimalathithan leaves and Kundavi argues with he rmother and aunt that her father unnecessarily interfered in the argument between her and Vimalathithan. Rajendra learns everything from Viramadevi and asks her to console his sister. He confronts his father, who informs Rajendra that he shall lead the army to attack the Vengi king. Rajendra refuses to do it, and gives his sword to his father. When he leaves. Bala Devar says that Rajendra's mind changed because of Viramadevi and made him soft. Viramadevi vows that she will stop loving Rajendra as she cannot bear such accusations. Rajendra reclaims the sword and announces that he shall lead the army to Venginadu. The Chola army is goes to the Vengi kingdom, and Rajendran tells Vimalathithan he has no choice but to fight. Rajaraja, disguised as a sage, appears and asks them why make the armies fight and lead to so many people's deaths, when only Rajendran and Vimalathithan should fight. Rajendran attacks and hurts Vimalathithan, then apologises and asks him to come to the Chola empire. When they reach the emperor's court, Vimalathithan is imprisoned in front of the palace gate. Vimalathithan tells all the townspeople of how Bala Devar is the reason for his imprisonment and that the whole empire will face ruin. Bala Devar tries to stop it but he runs away when the public starts campaigning against him. Bala Devar meets with Poonkudi to discuss Rajaraja's downfall. Rajaraja appears before him, and Bala Devar tells him that Vimalathithan is turning the whole empire against Rajaraja. Kundavi visits her lover in the prison, and he tells her that it is because of Bala Devar. Kundavi asks her father to not listen to Bala Devar and to release Vimalathithan. Rajaraja agrees to do so provided that Vengi make concessions that Kundavi and Rajendra find unacceptable. Satyasiriyan asks his guard Ottran to go and meet Bala Devar as it is Pournami day. Ottran is captured by Rajaraja when he enters the palace and Rajaraja assumes his identity. Bala Devar tells him to inform Satyasiriyan that on the eve of Rajajrja's birthday he plans to invite the emperor that night for a feast and poison him during the feast, and that Poonkodi is volunteering to aid them. Rajajraja leaves and Bala Devar gives the poison to Poonkodi. They invite him for the feast but Rajaraja tells them that he will only have milk and fruits. Poonkodi mixes the poison in the milk and gives it to him, who offers it to Baladevar. The king informs him that he plans to kill Vimalathithan and get Kundavi married to Satryasiriyan's son, and would not drink the milk as Poonkodi has poisoned the milk. Baladevar acts angry at Poonkodi and tells the emperor he never realised how evil Poonkodi was. The king says that no point finding her as all prisoners shall be released the next day. Bala Devar acts and cries about what could have happened to the Empire if Rajaraja would have been poisoned. The next morning, all the kings in the empire pay their respects to Rajaraja, and Vimalathithan is released and sings a song praising the emperor. Rajaraja grants him a wish, and Vimalathithan asks for the emperor's daughter. Bala Devar questions Rajaraja and tells him that Satyasiriyan will attack. Rajaraja reveals that Poonkodi is a Chola spy who works for him, and he already knew of Bala Devar's schemes. Tamizarasi completes her notes, and the two couples get married.

Cast

Rajaraja Cholan ''Rajaraja Cholan'' is a 1973 Indian Tamil-language biographical film directed by A. P. Nagarajan and written by Aru Ramanathan. Based on Ramanathan's play of the same name about the life of the Chola king Rajaraja I, the film stars Sivaji Ga ...

Vijayakumari Vijayakumari is an Indian stage, television and film actress. She was a stage actress at Kerala People's Arts Club and Kalidasa Kalakendra. She is the winner of the Kerala State award for best stage actress. Currently she is the Secretary of Ka ...

as Cholama Devi *

R. Muthuraman Muthuraman Radhakrishnan (4 July 1929 – 16 October 1981) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. He was a leading actor during the 1960s and 1970s and was fondly called as ''Navarasa Thilagam''. He had paired w ...

as Prince Vimalathithan of (later king) Vengai Nattu Thalaivan *

Sivakumar Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar (born 27 October 1941), is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television. He made his actin ...

Rajendra Chola I Rajendra Chola I (; Middle Tamil: Rājēntira Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Rājēndradēva Cōla; Old Malay: ''Raja Suran''; c. 971 CE – 1044 CE), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, and also known as Gangaikonda Chola (Middle Tami ...

Crown Prince *

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

as Kundhavai *

Kumari Padmini Kumari Padmini (Tamil: குமாரி பத்மினி), born as Padmini (died 1980), was an actress who was active in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam industry during the 1960s and 70s. Bio Kumari Padmini acted mainly in Tamil films. She ...

as Rajendra Cholan * M. N. Nambiar as Bala Devar *

R. S. Manohar Rasipuram Subramaniyan Iyer Manohar was an Indian actor who performed roles ranging from hero to villain to comedic characters. He was born at Namakkal in 1925. He acted in over 200 films. He is known for his versatility and dominating personal ...

as Sathyasiriyan *

Pushpalatha Pushpalatha is an Indian actress, who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam language films. She has acted as heroine and character roles in more than 100 films. Her debut film was '' Sengottai Singam'', released in 1958. When ...

as Sathyasiriyan wife * T. R. Mahalingam as Karuvur Devar *

Sirkazhi Govindarajan Sirkazhi Govindarajan (19 January 1933 – 24 March 1988) was an Indian Tamil Carnatic vocalist and a leading playback singer of Indian cinema. Early life Govindarajan, was born on 19 January 1933 at Sirkazhi (a small town in present day May ...

Nambiyandar Nambi Thirunaraiyur Nambiyandar Nambi was an eleventh-century Shaiva scholar of Tamil Nadu in South India who compiled the hymns of Sampantar, Appar and Sundarar and was himself one of the authors of the eleventh volume of the canon of the Tamil litur ...

S. Varalakshmi Saridey Varalakshmi (13 August 1925 – 22 September 2009) was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Telugu and Tamil-language films. She was popular for her roles and songs in Telugu films like ''Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam'' (1960) and '' ...

Kundavai Pirāttiyār Kundavai Pirattiyar commonly known mononymously as Kundavai, was a princess of the Chola empire who lived in the tenth century in South India.''Lalit kalā, Issue 15, page 34'' She was the daughter of Parantaka II and Vanavan Mahadevi.''Early Ch ...

Suruli Rajan Suruli Rajan was a Tamil film comedian/character artiste. He was a recipient of Tamil Nadu State Government's Best Comedian Award for the year 1981–82. Biography Suruli Rajan was born in 1938 in Periyakulam, near Theni. His father ''Ponnai ...

as Palace Servant * Manorama as Poonkodi *

A. Sakunthala Arunachalam. Sakunthala (C. I. D. Sakunthala) is an Indian actress. She has filled roles as a Heroine, Item number Dancer, and Villainess in over 600 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. The first movie in which she performed as an act ...

as Dancer * K. D. Santhanam as Sirpy * MLA Thangaraj *

Oru Viral Krishna Rao Oru Viral Krishna Rao was an Indian actor and comedian who appeared in Tamil-language films. A recipient of the state government's Kalaimamani award, Rao got the nickname ''Oru Viral ''Oru Viral'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language mystery fil ...

Ganthimathi Ganthimathi (30 August 1940 – 9 September 2011) was a Tamil stage and film actress. She acted in over 500 films. Early life Kanthimathi was born in Manamadurai in the then Ramanathapuram district of India. She started acting in dramas and ...

S. N. Parvathy S. N. Parvathy is an Indian actress who appears in supporting roles in Tamil films and serials. She often plays roles of a mother in films. She has worked in popular movies like ''Anubavi Raja Anubavi'', ''Pasi'', '' Palaivana Solai'', ''Agaya ...

Master Sekhar J. V. Sekhar (7 January 1963 – 8 July 2003), better known as Master Sekhar, was an Indian child actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil and Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indi ...

as Ponna

Production

''Rajaraja Cholan'', based on the life of the

king

was a play written by Aru. Ramanthan, and staged by the TKS Brothers in 1955. In 1973, it was adapted into a film by the same name, directed by

and produced by G. Umapathy;

, a self-described Chola, was cast in the title role. Umapathy wanted to film in

Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur Brihadishvara Temple, called Rajarajesvaram () by its builder, and known locally as ''Thanjai Periya Kovil'' ("Thanjavur Big Temple") and ''Peruvudaiyar Kovil'', is a Shaivite Hindu temple built in a Chola architectural style located on the ...

, but as he was denied permission, an identical set was constructed in Vasu Studios. ''Rajaraja Cholan'' was the first

film to be released in South India (Tamil).

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was composed by

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan (2 March 1935 – 8 September 2008) was an Indian classical music violinist and music composer. Early life Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan was born on 2 March 1935 and was trained by his father, Ramaswamy Sastry. He was the brother ...

. The lyrics were written by

Tirunavukkarasar Appar, also referred to as ( ta, திருநாவுக்கரசர்) or Navukkarasar, was a seventh-century Tamil Śaiva poet-saint. Born in a peasant Śaiva family, raised as an orphan by his sister, he lived about 80 years and is ...

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

, K. D. Santhanam, Poovai Senguttuvan and 'Ulunthurpettai' Shanmugham.

Release

''Rajaraja Cholan'' was released on 31 March 1973. The film's prints were taken to theatres atop an elephant. In

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

, fans hired a helicopter and showered flower petals on the print''.'' According to Ganesan, the film did not succeed commercially because "it was not filmed well enough to bring out the ambience or the magnificence of the emperor's personality", and was filmed on the lines of a "family drama". Nonetheless, the film ran for over 100 days in theatres.

Reception

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' said, "A great deal of thought and effort has gone into Anand Movies' "''Raja Raja Chozhan''" in CinemaScope produced by G. Umapathy and directed by A. P. Nagarajan. The grandeur, majesty and the culture and prosperity of the golden era of "Raja Raja Chozhan" have been captured faithfully including the building of the Thanjavur temple". ''

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 ...

'' said, "The film is lavishly mounted. Muthuraman and Lakshmi impress and Kumari Padmini has given a good account of herself". ''

The Mail Mail is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. Mail or The Mail may also refer to: Newspapers * ''Daily Mail'', a British newspaper **The Mail on Sunday **MailOnline * ''Sunday Mail'' (Adelaide), formerly The Mai ...

'' said, "As befitting the distinction, it is lavishly mounted, carefully produced and studded with stars. Producer G. Umapathy merits a pat on the back for steering so huge a project safely home". 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 ...

'' called it a respite for audiences tired of watching repeated, identical films.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{A. P. Nagarajan 1970s biographical films 1970s historical films 1970s Tamil-language films 1973 films CinemaScope films Films directed by A. P. Nagarajan Films scored by Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan Films set in the Chola Empire Films with screenplays by A. P. Nagarajan Indian biographical films Indian epic films Indian films based on plays Indian historical films