SYNOPSICS
Roja (1992) is a Tamil movie. Mani Ratnam has directed this movie. Arvind Swamy,Madhoo,Pankaj Kapur,Nassar are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1992. Roja (1992) is considered one of the best Drama,Romance,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
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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Roja (1992) Reviews
First part of Mani Ratnam's political trilogy
This is the first movie of what was to become director Mani Ratnam's "political trilogy" ("Bombay" and "Dil Se" being the movies to follow). While not quite as accomplished as the later movies, he develops a very simple story of a young married couple, the subsequent kidnapping of the husband and the wife's attempts to persuade the authorities to help free him into a well-rounded movie that works on almost all levels that it encompasses: The love relationship between the two main characters is credible and well-handled; the struggle of the individual citizen vs. government authorities and individual desires vs. the larger scale of politics is dealt with intensely (the scene where the Colonel tells Roja that "everyone is happy" is simply chilling), and even the interplay of the kidnapped and the terrorists works out really well, even if it seems sometimes that Rishi Kumar was lucky ending up with these rather than more ruthless people. The only problem that I have with this movie are a small handful of scenes in which Indian patriotism is showcased in what I felt was a rather blunt manner (but then, coming from a different country, I may lack some essential cultural background to understand it). Apart from this one quibble I think it's a good movie that you should really see, especially I've you've seen Mani Ratnam's other films. Acting is solid, especially from Pankaj Kapoor as the terrorist leader, but also from Arvind Swamy as Rishi (except perhaps when he goes into patriotic overdrive). Also on-screen chemistry between Arvind and Madhoo is fabulous. The music is an early, often charming ("Dil hai chhota sa") score by A. R. Rahman. Watch it.
Brilliant content ,Brilliant Score and Brilliant Direction
Seen it ages ago ,still the memories stay as fresh as seen the first time. The deep struggles endured against militants who are humans also are brilliantly depicted in the movie. Well in the original language of the movie the scenes of village girl trying to cope up with the big city and north Indian culture are very vividly depicted by Mani(lost in translation in other languages). With a crew of supremely talented technicians and back ground staff Mani brings us another classic. He should also be credited for getting the best tunes of a innocently brilliant music genius. They just don't make music like those anymore. Personal Rating 10/10. I would prefer him to direct a movie remake of "THE TENANT" (original by Polanski)
Very touching movie with great scenery and good characters
For once it is reasonably clear why the heroine falls in love with the hero, and also the motivation of the hero, even if it is unlikely, is well presented. This was one of the few movies that actually made me cry, and its images of Kashmir are beautiful.
Wow
This movie gets a 10/10 simply because of its uniqueness but that does not mean that it is not without flaws. I'll get to that later. The terrorism component has been shown very disturbingly. The big flaw I feel is that which the director discovered but failed to exploit fully. I'm talking about the language barriers between the north and south and how frustrating it can be especially in the light of a tragedy. Well he might have actually done more than I can remember because I saw this movie more than a decade ago. The most important thing about this movie that it was AR Rehman's débutant music score, before which he was just doing just music for advertisements. Well done Mani Ratnam for exploiting AR Rehman fully.
Well-made film: A turning point in Indian Cinema
Roja is a film that many feel has been a turning point in Indian cinema. The North, that usually gets all the media hype & coverage in spite of poor techniques and stories got a slap on its face when this Tamil movie was dubbed in Hindi, to enable the larger population to watch this film with a topical theme (of Kashmiri militancy). Movies from the South have always been better in content and form compared to the North. And this movie created that awareness amongst the public there, and its success encouraged many other films to be dubbed in Hindi. And many a star was born: 1. Mani Ratnam (who had given better films like Mouna Ragam, Nayakan, Geetanjali and Anjali before) 2. A R Rahman aka Dileep Shekar: The man who brought in the New Sound to the Indian film music (lest they forget Music Maestro Ilayaraja's genius, with whom he was a lead keyboard player once) and threat to the copycats of yore: The Annu Maliks and the Anand Milinds 3. Santosh Sivan: The cinematographer, now-turned director 4. Arvind Swamy: The chubby-cheeked fair-skinned hero who appealed to the color-conscious Northies. And his patriotic fervour was well lapped up. 5. Madhoo: The ugly duckling as she was presented in her debut movie was transformed into a lovely and believable Roja- a village belle in awe of the city life and courageous when her life becomes hell with her husband's abduction. What was interestingly presented in the Tamil Original (but lost completely in the Hindi version, as every character speaks Hindi) was the language problem she faces in the North. I watched the film thrice.