Roja

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Roja
Directed by	Mani Ratnam
Produced by	Mani Ratnam K. Balachander
Written by	Mani Ratnam
Starring	Arvind Swamy Madhoo Pankaj Kapoor Nasser Janagaraj
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Santosh Sivan
Distributed by	Kavithalayaa Productions Pyramid
Release date(s)	14 February 1992
Running time	137 mins
Language	Tamil
Gross revenue	$4 million

Roja (Tamil: ரோஜா) (1992) is a Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam. The film was subsequently dubbed in Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, and Telugu.

The film won three National Film Awards, including Best Film on National Integration, catapulting Ratnam to national acclaim. The film also gained international acclaim with its nomination for Best Film at the Moscow International Film Festival.^[1] The film was recently re-released for international audiences in light of the growing fear of terrorist attacks across the world. This film was so popular during that time, that terrorists in Kashmir, got a copy of the movie in Tamil.^{[citation needed]}

The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, who debuted in Tamil as a music director with this film. This soundtrack is among the "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time listed by TIME magazine, issued in 2005.^[2][3]

Plot

Village girl and Madhoo tracking Aravid swamy from the film Roja

Roja revolves around one Man's love for his motherland and a wife's unfailing love for her husband. Roja (Madhoo) is a village girl, born and brought up in Sundarapandianpuram in Tirunelveli district in Southern Tamil Nadu. She prays that the handsome suitor and top cryptologist Rishi Kumar (Arvind Swamy), arriving in the village soon, accepts a proposal to get married to her sister. It soon emerges that Roja's sister is in love with another, and to everyone's surprise Rishi requests Roja's hand in marriage. Being unaware of her sister's love affair, Roja is not willing to accept Rishi's proposal as she believes that he is the best match for her sister. But due to her parent's pressure, she gets married to Rishi, and the couple move out of the village to live in Madras. Initially Roja is angry with Rishi for rejecting her sister but when she comes to know that it was her sister's own wish to marry her love rejecting Rishi, she apologizes and starts to fall in love with Rishi. Working for the Indian Government, Rishi is assigned a posting at an army communications center in Kashmir. In here Roja's world gets shattered when Rishi is abducted by the terrorists from Pakistan who are fighting for Kashmir and demanding the release of their terrorist leader Wasim Khan from prison, held by Indian military forces. Roja pleads with politicians and the military for help, Where as Roja doesn't know the other languages much. She tries to convey the military officials and politicians in different ways that what pain she receives after her hubby's abduction. but it all goes in vain. What happens to Rishi and Wasim Khan forms the rest of the story.

Cast

• Arvind Swamy
• Madhoo
• Pankaj Kapoor
• Nasser
• Janagaraj

Awards

The film has been nominated for the following awards since its release:^[1]

1993 Moscow International Film Festival (Russia)

• Won - Golden St. George (Best Film) - Mani Ratnam

The film has won the following awards since its release:^[1]

1993 National Film Awards (India)

• Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Music Director - A. R. Rahman
• Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Lyricist - Vairamuthu
• Won - Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration

1993 Filmfare Awards South

• Won - Filmfare Best Director Award (Tamil) - Mani Ratnam
• Won - Filmfare Best Movie Award (Tamil) - Roja
• Won - Filmfare Best Music Director Award (Tamil) - A. R. Rahman

Soundtrack

Music

The soundtrack features score and six songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics in the Tamil language by Vairamuthu. Songs such as "Rukkumani" had a loud thumping feel and became ingrained in pop culture.

Also many new singers were introduced to the Tamil music scene. Time magazine's noted film critic, Richard Corliss stated that the "astonishing debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman." Including the album on a list of Time magazine's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time in 2005,^[2][3] he admitted to failing to properly check facts on a lyrics website when describing two songs using dubbed Hindi titles on his article.^[4] The soundtrack also found success in its many dubbed versions released in subsequent years.

Track listing:

1. “Rukkumani” (6:02) – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chitra
2. “Chinna Chinna Aasai” (4:57) – Minmini, A.R.Rahman
3. “Kaadhal Rojave” (5:04) – S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha
4. “Pudhu Vellai Mazhai” (5:18) – Unni Menon, Sujatha
5. “Tamizha Tamizha” (3:05) – Hariharan , Chorus
6. “Chinna Chinna Aasai” (1:07) – Minmini

Released on Lahari, the soundtrack for Roja proved immensely popular.

References

Further reading

• Nagappan, Ramu (2005). "Momentary Pleasures of Reconcilliation". Speaking Havoc: Social Suffering & South Asian Narratives. Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295984889. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wdAgle6tCVoC&printsec=frontcover#PPA170,M1. 

External links

• Roja Lyrics
• Roja at the Internet Movie Database