Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language
action thriller film
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
Vijayakanth
Vijayaraj Alagarswami (25 August 1952 – 28 December 2023), known by his stage name Vijayakanth, was an Indian actor, filmmaker, philanthropist and politician. He worked in Tamil cinema in a career spanning four decades. He ventured into politi ...
Senthil
Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Vijayakumar, and
Nizhalgal Ravi
Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has also performed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films and television series. ...
play supporting roles. It marked the debut of cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran in Tamil cinema. The film, produced by G. Thyagarajan, was released on 14 April 1994 to positive reviews. The film was remade in
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
"Honest" Raj, a police officer in a coma for four years, wakes up suddenly. Abhinaya, a newly appointed doctor, saves him from a killer with the help of Raj's assistant Velu.
10 years ago, Raj lived with his mother Maragatham in Chennai. Maragatham was a Bank officer, and Raj was a graduate searching for a job. When Maragatham's Bank was taken hostage, Raj came to rescue and defeated the robbers. The City police reward him, and the commissioner asks him to attempt Public service exams for
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire.
Along with the Indian Admini ...
. Raj complies and after the exams, mom-son duo visit Maragatham's native village for a vacation. Pushpa, a village girl, fell in love with Raj and they get engaged. Raj's best friend Varatha attempted to suicide after his father's creditors pressured him. Raj saved him, and Varatha lent his printing press company to Pazhani. Raj and Pushpa got married, and he passed the IPS exam successfully. Varatha found counterfeit money in his factory and started an illegal business with Pazhani. Bharatha then became rich and killed his partners.
Raj came back with his mother, wife, and son Babloo to see Varatha. Raj found an illegal business thanks to Kesavan, a former henchman of Varatha. Even though Varatha was his best friend, Raj tried to arrest him. Varatha soon killed his wife and mother. To save at least Babloo, Raj was hurt by bullets and lapsed into a coma. Gopalakrishnan, a veteran police officer, took care of Babloo.
Raj decides to take revenge and punish the culprit. Varatha kidnaps Babloo and threatens to kill him. Raj saves Babloo; kills Varatha, who does not want to surrender; and marries Abhinaya.
Cast
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...
''Honest Raj'' was released on 14 April 1994, during the
Puthandu
Puthandu (), also known as Tamil New Year (), is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar that is traditionally celebrated as a festival by Tamils. The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the solar Hindu calendar, as the first day ...
holiday. The film opened up against other films like '' Adharmam'', '' Indhu'', ''
Sakthivel
''Sakthivel '' is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Selva, Kanaka and Vijayakumar. Produced by M. Saravanan and M. Balasubramanian of AVM Productions, it was released on 14 April 19 ...
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'' wrote, "Ravi's tightly knit screenplay and deft handling .give an added dimension to the characters and make the film engrossing". K. Vijiyan of ''
New Straits Times
The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...
'' wrote, "Ravi's use of flashbacks and his treatment of the story lift this movie from ordinary and prevent it from turning dreary". Thulasi of ''
Kalki
Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...