Roja

March 24, 2007 at 10:58 am (A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam, Reminiscing Mani Ratnam's movies)

Roja
I am going to start with the climax! I love the climax and the location where it was shot too. Perfect choice! Madhubala runs down the steps and Arvind Samy too runs towards her. The first time he slips and falls, she hurries down the steps. Then, when he rolls down the steps, she lets out a cry and rushes towards him. Now, they are just a few feet away from each other. Unlike other movies where the heroine will run towards the hero immediately to help him, here, she herself becomes so weak with joy on seeing her husband after a long time that she is unable to even stand! Then, when he finally reaches her, they let their eyes and tears do the talking, he then calls her ‘Pattikkaadu’ and they both hug! No unnecessary dialogue between the couple. Their eyes and actions do all the talking! Wow!

A few other scenes that left a deep impression on me are the one where Madhubala asks Nasser if his reply would have been the same had the abducted person been someone related to a Minister and the one where Nasser tells her that the Govt. has agreed to release Wasim Khan and then, tells how the efforts and sacrifice of the army men have now gone wasted since the Govt. has agreed to release a dangerous terrorist whom the Army men had arrested with great difficulty. This scene is sure to make you offer a salute to our great Army Men. But, for them, can you and I enjoy our lives happily like this?
The scene where Pankaj Kapoor tells Arvind Samy ‘Nee oru theeviravadhiya maatthitta’ Wish it was this easy to change a terrorist’s mind! Sigh!

There is nothing to say about the romantic scenes between Madhubala and Arvind Samy as those are Mani Ratnam’s forte´ and he excels in it in this movie too!

I didn’t know that many parts of ‘Roja’ were shot in Ooty until I saw during my college tour, some of the locations at which it was shot. So, seeing those scenes now brings back fond memories of the tour. 🙂
How can I even write something about Roja without mentioning about A.R.Rahman’s music! The day my Dad got the cassette of Roja and how everyone in our house including my grandfather (Chinna Chinna Aasai was his all-time favourite!) became crazy about the music still remains afresh in my memory. See the power of Rahman’s music. It made everyone from a person in his 70s to a 7-year old kid go crazy over it! 😉 It is another fact that his music still manages to make everyone go crazy over it.
Some of the BGMs in Roja that I like are the BGM that comes when Roja talks to her sister over the phone, the BGM during the climax and then, of course ‘Telephone Manipol’ as a BGM. Listen to one of my favourite BGM here:

Chinna Chinna Aasai, Pudhu Vellai Mazhai and Kadhal Rojave – no words to describe these 3 songs!

P.S.: Why don’t you all share your favourite scenes from this movie?
P.S.1: I am writing about Mani Ratnam’s films in a random order. The next post may be on any movie from Nayagan to Aayitha Ezhuthu. Will be back with the next post soon.