Raja Rani (2013 film)

Raja Rani
Directed by Atlee
Produced by AR Murugadoss
S. Shanmugam
Written by Atlee
Starring Arya
Nayantara
Jai
Nazriya Nazim
Music by G. V. Prakash Kumar
Cinematography George C. Williams
Edited by Anthony L. Ruben
Production
company
Distributed by Fox Star Studios
Release dates
  • 27 September 2013
Running time
 160 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Budget INR15 crore[1]
Box office INR50 crore[2]

Raja Rani (English: King, Queen) is a 2013 Tamil romantic comedy film directed by debutant Atlee, who previously worked with Shankar as an assistant in Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012). Produced by AR Murugadoss and Fox Star Studios,[3] the film features Arya, Nayantara, Jai and Nazriya Nazim in the lead roles while Sathyaraj, Santhanam and Sathyan appear in supporting roles.[4] The film released worldwide on 27 September 2013,[5] to generally positive reviews from critics.[6] The Telugu dubbed version is also titled as Raja Rani and was released on March 14, 2014.

Plot

John (Arya) and Regina (Nayantara) marry reluctantly at a church. They have agreed to the marriage just to make their parents happy. When they take their wedding vows Regina utters her lover's name, "Surya". Upon hearing this, Regina's father (Sathyaraj) faints in the church. Regina feels sorry for her father and ends up marrying John. They live in an apartment together, and John comes home every night drunk deliberately to disturb Regina. Their neighbors are also annoyed by John's drunken behavior, and chide Regina one morning when this nuisance gets worse. John and Regina try to irritate each other in every possible way. Eventually, Regina applies for a transfer to Australia to stay away from John, and he is not affected by this decision.

On one night, Regina falls to the ground with fits. John calls for an ambulance and takes Regina to the hospital, where he sees Regina being treated via electric shocks. The doctor then asks John for Regina's name, age and whether she has had an attack before this. John fails to answer the doctor's question, as he is drunk. Later on, John goes up to the doctor and explains that Regina is his wife's name and that she is 28 years old. The doctor then says it is important to know about his wife's health, even if he dislikes her. The next day, John asks Regina about her health and she reveals she was already attacked twice by fits. She begins telling how she first had fits, in which she reveals her past relationship with Surya (Jai), who is very timid and humorous.

Her story begins one fine day when she is in college. Her phone fails to make calls, so she rings the customer service to find out what is wrong. Surya, who works at the AirVoice Customer Service Center, attends Regina's call. Surya is a new worker so he starts to get nervous and fumbles, so Regina becomes irritated and starts to scold him. Listening to his friend Aiyappan's idea, Surya later calls Regina back to scold her for her behavior but ends up getting scolded. After that, Regina asks all her classmates to call the AirVoice customer service and prank Surya if he attends their call. Regina then comes straight to Surya's work place, and says it was her fault and apologizes. The next day, Regina calls Surya from an unknown number saying 'I love you'. Surya along with his friend Aiyappan (Sathyan) comes to meet her and Surya confesses his love. Love starts to bloom between the two. Surya gets selected for airline cabin-crew training in the USA. They both decide to inform their parents about their relationship. However, Surya feels that his father might not approve of their relationship. Regina's father is more like a friend to her, so she requests her father to talk to Surya's father. Their marriage talks don't go as expected, hence Regina and Surya decide to get married without informing their parents. Regina waits for Surya all day to come to the registrar office, but he doesn't show up to her dismay. Regina's father feels sorry his daughter and takes Regina to Surya's house. There, they both learn that Surya has already left to the US. Shocked and devastated, Regina's father has his first heart attack. A few days later Regina gets a call from Aiyappan, saying Surya committed suicide in the US. Regina is heartbroken and is attacked by fits. Three years later, Regina is still not able to get over her past, but decides to marry John only for the sake of her father.

Upon hearing this story, John says that he has never come across a girl who can value a relationship so much. John begins to like Regina and now has immense respect for her. When Regina gets discharged from the hospital, John tries to pay the bill, and she scolds and embarrasses him in front of many people. Regina continues to insult John until one day when Sarathy (Santhanam) comes to their flat and reveals John's past. John fell in love with Keerthana (Nazriya Nazim),who is an orphan. For John, it is love at first sight, as he is smitten by the bubbly and energetic Keerthana. Keerthana however, acts like she does not like him and messes with him for two weeks. John and Keerthana fall for each other and eventually get married. On the first day after their marriage, when Keerthana is crossing the road, a car hits her and she dies in front of John. Four years later, standing at the place where Keerthana died, a heartbroken John agrees to marry Regina against his will, upon the insistence of Sarathy.

On hearing John's past Regina begins to like John. Though John and Regina like each other, they never reveal it. Finally on John's birthday Regina gives John a gift and insists that he opens it alone, but John never opens the gift as he thinks that Regina is only pretending to be affectionate in front of her father.

Regina gets a transfer to Australia for two years. John finds out and asks her to go ahead with her plans, hiding his true feelings of wanting her to stay. All the while, Regina wants John to ask her to stay and thereby vocalize his feelings for her.

John agrees to drop Regina at the airport, as neither of them reveal their true feelings. Regina waits at the immigration counter and a frustrated John goes to the parking lot, venting on the phone to Sarathy. While still at the parking lot, John gets a call from Regina to see her at the entrance. An ecstatic John runs to the entrance to meet Regina, who tells him that she saw Surya at the immigration counter. Without listening any further, John runs to meet Surya. Surya says that he was forced to leave by his father and he knew that Regina will never get over him, so he had asked his friend to tell Regina that he committed suicide. Surya says that he is now happily married and asks John to be happy with Regina and leaves. Surya says, "You can't always marry the girl you love, but you should always love the girl you marry." John tries to convince Surya to get back with Regina but he refuses and leaves. While he leaves, he looks at his right hand, where he still has the ring that Regina gifted him when they were in love, showing that Surya married another girl to satisfy his father's wish but still he loves Regina and he keeps the ring for the memory of their sweet love.

Regina, who is terribly angry, slaps John as she never wanted to get back with Surya, as that was the past. Regina throws the gift that John never opened in which it is written "Let us begin our life". John and Regina realize their love for each other and live happily thereafter.

Cast

Production

Casting

Atlee Kumar, an assistant director to Shankar, narrated his script to Murugadoss in early 2012 who agreed to finance the film. Atlee revealed he wrote the script with Arya in mind to portray the lead role, and was insistent on signing Anushka Shetty as the female lead as he felt they made a good on-screen pair. Anushka Shetty was unable to sign in the film due to unknown reasons. Nayanthara was chosen to play Anushka's role.[9] Atlee had initially selected Sivakarthikeyan to portray a role in the film, but subsequently chose Jai to appear as Nayanthara's love interest in a flashback segment.[10] Priya Anand was considered another leading role, but the opportunity was later offered to Nazriya Nazim who had made her debut with Neram (2013) in Tamil films.[11] Sathyaraj, Santhanam and Sathyan were also signed to play other supporting roles in the film.[12] The film has music by G. V. Prakash Kumar, art direction by T. Muthuraj and cinematography by debutant George C. Williams, a former associate of Nirav Shah.[13]

Filming

"At my age I thought I should give a nice love story; we hear many love stories so I thought mine should be unique and came up with a husband and wife story. Since the best onscreen pair in Tamil at present is Arya and Nayantara, I narrated it to them"
—Atlee on how the idea of Raja Rani was developed.[14]

The film began its first schedule at a bungalow in Greams road, Chennai.[15] Kamal Haasan switched on the camera and a song picturizing Jai and Nayanthara was canned on the occasion.[16] The sequence involving Jai and Nayantara were canned first and Arya joined the team after completing his work on Irandam Ulagam.[17]

Themes and influences

Critics have noted that the film draws similarities to Mani Ratnam's Mouna Ragam[18][19] and the Kannada film Milana.[20][21][22]

Soundtrack

Raja Rani

Front cover
Soundtrack album to Raja Rani by G. V. Prakash Kumar
Released 23 August 2013
Genre Feature Film Soundtrack
Language Tamil
Label Think Music
Producer G. V. Prakash Kumar
G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology

Thalaivaa
(2013)		 Raja Rani
(2013)		 JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai
(2013)

The soundtrack album for Raja Rani was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. The lyrics were penned by Na. Muthukumar, Pa. Vijay and Gaana Bala. The single, "Hey Baby" was released on 19 August 2013.[23] The complete album was released on 23 August 2013 at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai.[24][25] The audio was released by actors Jiiva and Arya.

Tracklist[26]
No. TitleLyricsSinger(s) Length
1. "Hey Baby"  Na. Muthukumar, Gaana BalaG. V. Prakash Kumar, Gaana Bala, Aishwarya 05:06
2. "Angnyaade"  Pa. VijayShakthisree Gopalan 03:37
3. "Chillena"  Na. MuthukumarClinton Cerejo, Alphonse, Alka 05:12
4. "Unnale"  Na. MuthukumarVandana Srinivasan 01:41
5. "Oday Oday"  Pa. VijayVijay Prakash, Sasha, Shalmali Kholgade 04:32
6. "Imaye Imaye"  Pa. VijayG. V. Prakash Kumar, Shakthisree Gopalan 03:26
7. "A Love For Life"   G. V. Prakash Kumar, Navin Iyer, Chennai Symphony 03:17
Total length:
 26:50

Behindwoods rated the album 3.25 out of 5, and said "G.V strikes with lively & cheerful melodies. A very pleasant album !"[27] IndiaGlitz rated it 2.5 out of 5 and said, "GV Prakash keeps his promise".[28] Cinemalead.com rated the album with 3.5 out of 5 stars and said the album is Innovative,Interesting and Intriguing[29]

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.[30] A first official film teaser showing the lead pair quarrelling through their projections in a mirror, was released on 11 May by Fox Star Studios.[31] The teaser went instantly viral garnering a large number of views.[32] The film was given a "U" certificate by the Indian Censor Board.[33] This film released in many theatres across the USA especially Towne 3 cinemas in San Jose. It was a blockbuster in Tamil, did decent business in Telugu and U.S.A market.

The official trailer was released along with the music album in a very innovative manner on 23 August 2013.[34] The trailer was released on YouTube earlier in the day and was simultaneously telecast across 12 television channels at 7 PM.[35] The trailer received positive response.[36]

Critical reception

Raja Rani received generally positive reviews from critics.[6] Rediff rated it 3/5 and stated, "Debutant director Atlee's ‍ '​Raja Rani‍ '​ is a simple refreshing tale about how to cope with life, when we lose someone we love. The film has a lot going for it and definitely succeeds in entertaining the audience."[37] Behindwoods rated it 3/5 and stated "The movie's running time is 2 hours 45 minutes and there are moments in the second half leading to the finale which sag. The end product could have been much tauter. To sum up, though the second half of Raja Rani moves along predictable lines, it's still a promising debut by Atlee".[38] The Times of India gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote "The film does leave you exhausted by the time it ends. Still, it remains always watchable, mainly because the director, like his mentor Shankar, embraces his old school storytelling methods with conviction".[39]

Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu cited "Atlee’s promising debut Raja Rani merits a watch in spite of its fundamentally flawed structure".[18] IndiaGlitz said, "One look at the movie and there might be suspicions of Atlee as a debutant, he gives away a clean family entertainer with no hoopla's. There are two other major contributing factors. George C. Williams's enchanting cinematography giving a bouncing color to the film, and flows with freshness. And the other is GV's music, if the songs are chartbusters, then the BGM is another success story. They flow well with the scenes right from the start to the end, way to go team."[40]

In contrast, Gautaman Bhaskaran of Hindustan Times rated it 2 stars and said, "At a little over 150 minutes, Raja Rani is a bumpy ride with potholes of songs, with characters who are nothing better than caricatures and with a romance that hardly engages".[41] Sify too gave an unfavourable review stating, "Debutant director Atlee's highly hyped Raja Rani starts off promisingly and keeps us engaged in the first half. But post-interval it loses steam, and turns out to be a cheesy, emotionally manipulative drama with a predictable long drawn out climax that goes on and on for 35 minutes".[20]

Box office

The film released in 350 screens in Tamil Nadu.[42] It earned approximately INR 32 million on its first day, which was said to be Arya's best ever opening,[5] and had collected an opening weekend collection of INR 122 million in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.[43] The total collections from overseas market after the opening weekend were estimated at around INR 50 million.[43] Raja Rani eventually emerged a huge success after earning over INR500 million (US$7.9 million) from the South Indian box office within four weeks.[2] The Telugu dubbed version too was a success grossing INR40 million (US$630,000) on its opening weekend and INR120 million (US$1.9 million) in its lifetime. The film thus emerged as the third blockbuster in Arya's career after Arinthum Ariyamalum and Boss Engira Bhaskaran as well as the fifth most successful film of the year.[44]

Awards and nominations

Ceremony Category Nominee Result
Edison Awards Best Actress Nayantara Won
Best Debut Director Atlee Won
Best Background Score G. V. Prakash Kumar Won
Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards The Most Popular Film Fox Star Studios
AR Murugadoss Productions		 Won
Vijay Awards Favourite Heroine Nayantara Won
Best Actress Won
Best Debut Director Atlee Won
Best Story, Screenplay Writer Nominated
Best Dialogue Nominated
Favourite Song "Hey Baby"
G. V. Prakash Kumar		 Nominated
Best Music Director Nominated
Best Background Score Nominated
Best Best Supporting Actor Sathyaraj Nominated
Favourite Film Fox Star Studios
AR Murugadoss Productions		 Nominated
Best Cinematographer George C. Williams Nominated
Best Editor Anthony L. Ruben Nominated
Best Art Director T. Muthuraj Nominated
Best Make Up Albert Chettiyar
Avinash
Bujji Babu
Ramachandran
Ramu
Shanmugam		 Nominated
Best Costume Designer Chaitanya Rao
Deepali Noor
Kaviza Raebhela
Sathya		 Nominated
Filmfare Awards South Best Actress Nayantara Won
Best Supporting Actor Jai Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Sathyaraj Won
Best Supporting Actress Nazriya Nazim Nominated
SIIMA Awards SIIMA Awards for Best Tamil Actress Nayantara Nominated
Best Actor Supporting Role Male Jai Nominated
Best Music Director G. V. Prakash Kumar Nominated
Best Debut Director Atlee Nominated
Best Film Fox Star Studios
AR Murugadoss Productions		 Nominated

References

  1. ↑ http://entertainment.oneindia.in/telugu/news/2014/raja-rani-3-days-first-weekend-collection-ap-box-office-134365.html
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Raja Rani crosses 50 crore mark". Times of India.
  3. ↑ "Arya, Nayantara to act in Atlee's next". CNN-IBN. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Jai to work with Nayanthara". Times of India. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "'Raja Rani' Box Office Collection: Arya-Nayanthara Starrer Gets Off to Fantastic Start, Earns Over ₹3 Crore on Day 1 – International Business Times". Ibtimes.co.in. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "'Raja Rani' Review Roundup: Clean Entertainer; Worth a Watch – International Business Times". Ibtimes.co.in. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 Raja Rani (DVD): clip from 1.52 to 2.12
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Raja Rani (DVD): clip from 2.33.32 to 2.33.40
  9. ↑ "Nayanthara and Arya to romance again!". Times of India. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "Nayanthara giving sleepless nights to Jai". IndiaGlitz. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Priya Anand in talks for an Arya film?". Postnoon. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Nayanthara, Jai shoot together!". Times of India. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  13. ↑ "Arya-Nayan-Jai's 'Raja Rani' starts rolling!". Sify. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  14. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/atlee-displays-his-chops/article5788431.ece
  15. ↑ "Raja Rani shooting begins in the presence of Kamal Haasan". IndiaGlitz. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  16. ↑ "Raja Rani shoot begins". Times of India. 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  17. ↑ "Jai pairs up with Nayanthara". Behindwoods. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Sudhish Kamath (28 September 2013). "Raja Rani: Boy, Girl, Her Ex and His". The Hindu. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  19. ↑ "Review: 'Raja Rani'". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Movie Review : Raja Rani". Sify. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  21. ↑ Features, Express. "'Raja Rani' remake of 'Milana'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  22. ↑ sandesh (2 October 2013). "Puneet's Milana Vs Arya's Raja Rani". OneIndia. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "Arya, Nayan marriage made in heaven?". The Times of India. 20 August 2013.
  24. ↑ "Raja Rani Audio Launched". Oneindia Entertainment. 23 August 2013.
  25. ↑ "Raja Rani audio launched". Sify. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  26. ↑ Think Music (23 August 2013). "Raja Rani Official Full Songs". Youtube.
  27. ↑ "Raja Rani Songs Review Raja Rani, Arya, Nayanthara". Behindwoods. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  28. ↑ "Raja Rani Music Review songs lyrics". IndiaGlitz. 28 August 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  29. ↑ "Raja Rani Music Review MusicReview". Cinemalead.com. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  30. ↑ "Pongal 2014 Tamil Special Programs Movies January 14, 15 in Star Vijay". Indian Online Updates. 5 January 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  31. ↑ Raja Rani Teaser featuring Arya and Nayanthara (YouTube). Fox Star Studios.
  32. ↑ Raja Rani teaser crosses 5.50 lakh views
  33. ↑ "Raja Rani Censor Report". CineSine. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  34. ↑ "'Raja Rani' trailer released". The Times of India. 23 August 2013.
  35. ↑ "Raja Rani Trailer Review". iFlickz. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  36. ↑ Sangeetha Seshagiri (24 August 2013). "Arya-Nayanthara's 'Raja Rani' Trailer Goes Viral". International Business Times.
  37. ↑ "Review: Tamil film Raja Rani is refreshing". Rediff. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  38. ↑ "Raja Rani Movie Review Raja Rani, Arya, Jai". Behindwoods. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  39. ↑ "Raja Rani movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at". The Times of India. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  40. ↑ "Raja Rani Tamil Movie Review". IndiaGlitz. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  41. ↑ "Gautaman Bhaskaran's review: Raja Rani". Hindustan Times. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  42. ↑ Raja Rani released in 350 screens in Tamil Nadu
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 "'Raja Rani' Box Office Collection: Arya-Nayanthara Starrer Earns Over ₹12 Crore in India, Performs Well in Overseas Markets – International Business Times". Ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  44. ↑ Raja Rani was the biggest hit of 2013

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