Pokkiri Raja (2010 film)

Pokkiri Raja

Film poster
Directed by Vyshakh
Produced by Tomichan Mulakupadam
Written by Udayakrishna
Siby K. Thomas
Starring

Suraj Venjaramoodu

Music by Jassie Gift
Cinematography Shaji
Edited by Mahesh Narayanan
Distributed by Mulakupadam Release
Release dates
  • 7 May 2010
Running time
 136 minutes
Country India
Language Malayalam
Budget INR4.25 crore (US$670,000)[1]
Box office INR36.5 crore (US$5.8 million)[1]

Pokkiri Raja (English: The Rogue King) is a 2010 Malayalam action masala film starring Mammootty in the title role along with Prithviraj and Shriya Saran in supporting roles. The film is written by the duo Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas, directed by debutante Vyshakh, and the music is composed by Jassie Gift. The film was released on 7 May 2010 in Kerala.[2] The film marked the debut of Shriya Saran in Malayalam cinema.[3][4][5] It was remade in Hindi as Boss and Telugu as Bhai with Nagarjuna Akkineni and Prasanna. The film was dubbed in hindi as Ek Boss The Raja.

Plot

The film revolves around Madhavan Nair (Nedumudi Venu) who unknowingly kills a teenager and his eldest son, Raja, takes the blame and is sentenced to jail for five years. After returning from jail, his father refuses to accept him still with no knowledge that his son was innocent,and so Raja moves to Madurai and there he rescues the life of the son of Maniannai, the village land lord and then Raja turns his right hand and he is named as Madurai Raja. Years later, he started being known as Pokkiri Raja (Mammootty).

Meanwhile Surya (Pritviraj), the younger son of Madhavan Nair, is a young energetic and educated naughty guy who is well famous for his rowdisim in his village. He is sent to Ernakulam to his brother-in-law Sugunan (Suraj Venjaramoodu) to change his character, who is a scary cat. At Ernakulam, Surya falls in love with Aswathy (Shriya Saran) unknowing that she is the daughter of the City Police Commissioner. Sugunan takes advantage of Surya's character and sends him in his uniform to take care of some severe police cases. Surya gets arrested for this offence. The commissioner finds that Surya is in love with his daughter and charges Surya with another drugs case and makes it a non bailable offence. Meanwhile the commissioner plans to murder Surya in jail and gives the contract to Pokkiri Raja. At this point, Madhavan Nair goes to Madurai in search of his elder son who left for Madurai 10 years back and asks for his help to rescue his younger son Surya.

Cast

Production

The film was launched by Mammootty with the absence of Prithviraj and Shriya Saran at Changanassery on 30 December 2009. Veteran director Joshi lighted the ceremonial lamp at the function.[6] Shooting of the film began on 11 January 2010 at various locations in Pollachi and Ernakulam.[7] Prithviraj's song 'Manikyakallin Mukkuticharhtum' song was first shot. The shooting completed within 50 days with a production cost of 5 crores and distribution works started in April. Audio was launched in April at Ernakulam. The dubbing of the film was happen at Kochi.[8] A song was planned to shoot at London featuring the lead pair Prithviraj and Shriya Saran but had to canceled because of volcanic ash from london has stopped the airport from fly in or out any flight.[9] While actress Shriya Saran get stranded with Tamil actor Arya at London while shooting for their film Chikku Bukku.[10]

Reception

Critical response

Pokkiri Raja generally received mixed reviews from critics. Among the actors, Mammootty received reviews such as "Mammootty excels as Pokkiri Raja, eliciting loud applause from ardent fans",[11] "Mammootty dances and uses his broken English to induce laughter as has been the trend in recent times",[12] "Mammootty and Prithviraj look handsome in their own way and the scenarist duo of Siby K Thomas and Udayakrishna have succeeded in allotting almost equal footage to them",[13] "Mammootty saves this film from not being a total washout with his amazing screen presence"[14] and "Mammootty and Prithviraj looks good on screen as usual",[15] for Prithviraj the critics describe his performance as "Prithviraj packaged as a wholesome entertainer does not disappoint. One just hopes that this manufactured adulation does not go to his head",[12] "Prithviraj as Surya gives a power-packed performance. The duo together breathes energy into the film as a whole",[11] and "Prithvi looks well-groomed, but I doubt if this film would do anything worthwhile for his surging career".[14] The heroine Shriya Saran manage to get some good reviews among the critics despite her role was very short, "Shriya Saran plays Prithviraj's pair in the film and she has nothing much to do other than to look pretty",[13] "Shriya Saran gives ample support as Ashwathi",[11] "Shreya Saran plays the love lady to Prithviraj in the film and has done her role impressively. There is nothing much in her role"[15] and "Shreya is gorgeous of course, but all she has to do is to look bewildered at the brothers in action, and that she does". The film had some daredevil action scenes from the megastar & Prithviraj which were composed by the renowned Tamil action choreographer Kanal Kannan[14]

Box office

Pokkiri Raja released in more than 100 theatres in Kerala.[16] The film initially got a bumper collection in its first week of release. The film managed to do well at North Kerala such as Kozhikode Apsara (INR 8.75 lakh) followed by Kavita, Ernakulam (INR 7.67 lakh) and Remya, Thiruvananthapuram (INR 6.30 lakh).[17][18] The film collected INR16.5 crore (US$2.6 million) from 35 days and INR36.5 crore (US$5.8 million) in its lifetime run.[1]

Character map of remakes

Pokkiri Raja (2010 film) Malayalam Boss (2013 Hindi film) Hindi Bhai (2013 film) (2013 film) Telugu
Mammootty Akshay Kumar Akkineni Nagarjuna
Prithviraj Sukumaran Shiv Pandit Prasanna (actor)
Shriya Saran Aditi Rao Hydari Richa Gangopadhyay
Siddique (actor) Ronit Roy Sonu Sood

Home video

Central Home Entertainment released the film in Blu-ray, DVD and VCD on 2010. Pokkiri Raja was the second Malayalam film to be released in Blu-ray, the first one being Pazhassi Raja.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Jassie Gift. The album contains 6 songs. The songs will be featured throughout the film except the other version of Ketile Kettile song. Kaithapram contributed the lyrics. This audio was released on 8 April 2010. All the song in this album become extremely popular among people of Kerala even before the film release.[19]

All lyrics written by Kaithapram. 

No. TitleSinger(s) Length
1. "Manikinavain"  K. J. Yesudas, Sujatha Mohan 3:12
2. "Kettille, Kettille"  Vijay Yesudas, Rijiya, Anwar Sadat 3:25
3. "Manickya Kallil"  Jassie Gift, Malathy, Ananthu 4:00
4. "Chenthengil Ponnilaneeru"  Ranjith, Anwar Sadat, Suchitra, Rijiya 3:50
5. "Kettille, Kettille"  Vijay Yesudas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Rijiya 4:59
6. "Pokkiri Raja"  Chorus  

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Unni R. Nair (25 June 2010). "Pokkiri Raja rules box-office". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Pokkiri Raja released. Sify.com. Retrieved on 20 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Shreya debuts in malayalam. Sify.com. Retrieved on 20 June 2014.
  4. ↑ Pillai, Gayathry V (3 December 2009) Shriya to step into Mollywood. Entertainment.oneindia.in. Retrieved on 20 June 2014.
  5. ↑ George, Vijay (17 February 2010) Sriya Saran makes her entry into Mollywood with Pokkiri Raja. The Hindu.
  6. ↑ "'Pokkiri Raja' Movie Launch". IndiaGlitz. 5 January 2010.
  7. ↑ "Pokkiri Raja – A trendsetter in the cards". IndiaGlitz. 8 April 2010.
  8. ↑ "Prithvi with Shreya in London for 'Pokkiri Raja' song shoot". nowrunning.com. 13 April 2010.
  9. ↑ Pillai, Sreedhar (20 April 2010). "Volcanic ash causes jitters in Kollywood!". The times of india.
  10. ↑ "Volcanic ash causes delay in Kollywood!". sifymovies. 20 April 2010.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Pokkiri Raja – Is a masala fiesta". IndiaGlitz. 10 May 2010.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Palicha, Paresh C (10 May 2010). "Pokkiriraja disappoints". rediff.com.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Pokkiri Raja". sifymovies. 10 May 2010.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Pokkiri Raja Review". nowrunning.com. 8 May 2010.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Pillai, Gayathry V (10 May 2010). "Pokkiri Raja-Movie Review". oneindia.in.
  16. ↑ "Pokkiri Raja demolish Alexander!". Sify. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  17. ↑ "‘Pokkiri Raja’, biggest hit so far". Indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  18. ↑ "Pokkiri Raja is instant hit". Indiaglitz.com. 8 May 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  19. ↑ "Pokkiri Raja Music Review". IndiaGlitz. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2010.

External links