Raja the Great

Raja The Great
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anil Ravipudi
Written by	Anil Ravipudi
Produced by	Dil Raju
Starring	Ravi Teja Mehreen Pirzada Raadhika
Cinematography	Mohana Krishna
Edited by	Tammi Raju
Music by	Sai Karthik
Production company	Sri Venkateswara Creations
Release date	18 October 2017 (2017-10-18)
Running time	150 mins
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Box office	est. ₹52 crore[1]

Raja The Great is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Anil Ravipudi and produced by Dil Raju on Sri Venkateswara Creations banner.^[2] The film stars Ravi Teja as a visually impaired man, alongside Mehreen Pirzada and Raadhika. Vivan Bhatena, Rajendra Prasad, Prakash Raj and Sampath Raj play supporting roles with music composed by Sai Karthik.^[3] The film marks the debut of Teja's son Mahadhan as child actor.^[4]

The film's production began in February 2017, and principal photography commenced in April 2017 in Hyderabad. Released worldwide on 18 October 2017, the film was a commercial success grossing more than ₹50 crore, becoming Teja's highest-grossing film in his career.^[5]

Plot[]

Lucky is a very protected and pampered daughter of a sincere police officer, SP Prakash. In one of his operations, Prakash encounters the brother of a powerful rowdy sheeter named Devaraj, for which Lucky was one of the reasons. The angered Devaraj wants revenge, and in the attack, Prakash gets killed, and Devaraj also targets Lucky. Lucky runs away to Darjeeling and hides in her father's friend Prasad's house to evade an attempt on her life. Now, the police department looks out for a special team with the objective of security guard for Lucky.

On the other hand, Raja, a blind man, is trained by his head constable mother, Anantha Lakshmi, to use his disability to his advantage. Anantha Lakshmi's ambition is to make her son a police officer. She obliges with the IG Viswaraj to include her blind son in the mission. After a few incidents take place, he agrees to send him but only to cook food for other officers. Raja, with his friend Bujji and three others, goes to Darjeeling. Raja meets Lucky and starts changing the depressed Lucky into making her have a happy mood with a few tricks. He also learns about Prasad's difficulties. Apparently, he was cheated by a bank manager and forced to pay a greater amount back than what he originally borrowed. In a comedic bank robbery, they expose this corrupt bank manager and give his tea estate and his house to him as the rightful owner. Lucky comes out of her depressed state and starts celebrating her life with Raja's help. Meanwhile, Devaraj gets to know where Lucky is and orders his goons to attack her. Knowing this, the Viswaraj and his team come to protect Lucky by sending her abroad, but Raja tells her "not to run and instead fight with them", but the Viswaraj neglects him and takes Lucky away. Devaraj's goons attack the Viswaraj and his team on the way and try to kill Lucky, but to everyone's surprise, Raja (who was trained in sword fights and karate since his childhood) rescues them by defeating the goons.

Lucky gains confidence in Raja, and she agrees to stay with him and fight back. Lucky and Raja go to her uncles' house in Madhira, but her uncles do not accept her for a brief period of time. Raja makes them realize their mistakes. On Lucky's birthday, she gets to know what her father's wish was (to educate poor girls by adopting them) and makes her father's wish as her ambition. Meanwhile, Devaraj sends goons again, but Raja defeats them. Raja challenges Devaraj to meet him. Devaraj comes to Lucky's house with his goons. Raja shows him what he is and gives him a strong warning not to trouble Lucky again. Devaraj kidnaps Raja's mother and Lucky. Raja, however, saves his mother and Lucky with his intelligence. Later, Lucky proposes to Raja.

It is later told that Raja, while escaping with Lucky and Bujji from Devaraj's factory, gets the evidence against Devaraj. The Viswaraj is granted a warrant against Devaraj. When the police goes to Devaraj to arrest him, he injures Raja and then insults him (that he is scared of facing him alone and all), which makes Anantha Lakshmi angry, and she challenges Devaraj to fight her son. Raja fights and defeats Devaraj, but he does not kill him. The Viswaraj encounters Devaraj and involves Raja in future police operations. Raja and Lucky then get married and live happily.

Cast[]

Production[]

Anil Ravipudi had the idea to make a film with visually impaired character as a lead as he was fascinated by the talents they have. Ravipudi however didn't want the film to be art film and wrote the script in a commercial format.^[6]

Release[]

The film was released on 18 October 2017. The film was dubbed and released in Tamil as Raja Raja Dhan in 2019.

Soundtrack[]

The music is composed by Sai Karthik and released on Aditya Music Company. Raja The Great (Title Song) was released online, for which Ravi Teja gave his voice.

Reception[]

Karthik Keramulu writing for the Firstpost rated 2.5 of 5 and wrote: "Raja The Great is an okayish entertaining affair in the theatre. However, the minute one walks out of the movie house, there’d be nothing to pull from the bed of the two-and-a-half-hour comedy to laugh about."^[7] The Hindu's Sangeetha Devi stated: "Anil Ravipudi takes the mass route with a blind protagonist and the result is silly humour."^[8] The Indian Express critic Manoj Kumar R who rated 2 stars, opined: "You don't go to watch a Ravi Teja film, which is directed by Anil Ravipudi, expecting a Nayakan. It's only fair that we judge his latest offering, Raja The Great, by the standards of mindless entertainers."^[9]

References[]

External links[]

• Raja the Great at IMDb