Roja (1992)

A woman from a village in Tamil Nadu marries a sophisticated city dweller and moves with him to Kashmir, where all is rosy - until he gets kidnapped by militants.

Director:

Mani Ratnam

Writer:

Mani Ratnam

Stars:

Arvind Swamy, Madhoo, Pankaj Kapur

Top Rated Indian Movies #79 | 11 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Arvind Swamy	...	Rishi Kumar (as Arvind)
Madhoo	...	Roja
Pankaj Kapur	...	Liaqat
Nassar	...	Colonel Rayappa (as Naseer)
Shiva Rindani	...	Waseem Khan (as Shiva)
Janakaraj	...	Chajoo Maharaj (as Janakraj)
Vaishnavi Mahant
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
C.K. Saraswathi
Sathyapriya
Sujatha

Storyline

Roja, a young woman born and brought up in Southern India, prays that the handsome young man coming to see her sister will be her future brother-in-law, only to have the tables turned on her when he openly choses her over her sister (as her sister loves another). So Roja marries Rishi and they leave the village to settle in the city, where both fall in love. Rishi, who works for the Indian Government, is instructed to go to the troubled state of Kashmir on a classified mission. Roja also goes along. Then her innocent world is shattered when Rishi is abducted and held for ransom by a group of jihadist militants who want an independent Kashmir and the release of a terrorist held by the Indian military forces. Will the passionate appeal of this young woman move cold and ruthless military and politician's hearts and minds? Two of the songs are worth remembering after watching the Hindi-dubbed version of the movie: "Dil hai chhotasa, chhotisi aasha, masti bhare man ki bholisi aasha, chand ...

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Plot Keywords:

kashmir | love | terrorist | husband wife reunion | burning a flag | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

A R Rahman won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction, Filmfare Award for Best Music Director, Tamil and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director for his work. In 2005 the album received critical acclaim and was also listed in Time magazine's "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time.

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Connections

Followed by Bombay (1995)

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Soundtracks

Pudhu Vellai Mazhai
(Hindi: "Yeh Haseen Waadiyaan")
Sung by Unni Menon and Sujatha [Tamil]
Sung by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and K.S. Chithra [Hindi]
Music composed by A.R. Rahman
Tamil Lyrics by Vairamuthu
Hindi Lyrics by P.K. Mishra

User Reviews

An early 90s Sensation about Hardcore Patriotism and Hardcore Love..

Roja (1992) : Brief Review -

An early 90s Sensation about Hardcore Patriotism and Hardcore Love. Roja is first of it's kind of theme by Mani Ratnam where he set the love story in the Terrorism atmosphere. He succeeded fulfilling both of them on high note and most importantly he did it positively and without any gimmicks. Roja is a sensation because it came in early 90s, an year before Riot Events took place in India or else the impact and disturbing theme would have fizzled to stand out. And also because Bollywood and South cinema had just started enjoying Masala Films filled with Machoism and Love Triangle based on Sacrifice, but then Roja came with a Love Story set in Sensitive and more realistic atmosphere. Kashmir's backdrop is always sensitive and fragile topic for Indian Movies because if you make just 1 small mistake, only god knows how people are gonna outburst and make it big issue. Fortunately Roja is a safe film cinematically and logically both. The patriotic theme sustains and evokes people to show thier love for the country and at the same time the Love Story runs smoothly. Arvind Swani and Madhoo both provides solid acts and even supporting cast is really good. Roja is truly by all mean a staggering debut for Music Maestro AR Rahman. Each and Every song is Awesome, even the worst case ends at Good. Dialogues are Fantastic, that's it. Kudos for Mani Ratnam for attempting a gutsy product much earlier than expected. He wrote an amazing script and justified it fully with his direction. Probably, the first time Love Story and Patriotism have been bounded together therefore creating a sensational Roja. I hated his 'Dil Se' for the Dumb characterisation but Roja doesn't have anything like that and lives upto all essential elements of Quality Filmmaking. Roja is an early 90s Classic which still manages to hold its impact despite several attempts on same theme.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Tamil

Release Date:

15 August 1992 (India)

Also Known As:

Роза

Company Credits

Production Co:

Madras Talkies, Hansa Pictures (P) Ltd., Kavithalayaa Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1