''Rajani'' is a 2009 Indian

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by Thriller Manju and produced by Ramu for his banner Ramu Enterprises. The movie is a remake of 2008

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

film ''

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

'' (2008). The film features

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born subs ...

and Aarti Chabria in the lead roles. The film's

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

and

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

is composed by

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, d ...

. The film released across Karnataka on 18 September 2009 coinciding Upendra's birthday.

Plot

The film is about Rajani (

), who was once a software engineer but quits his job to give it to his friend and now is unemployed in Mysore. Sandhya ( Aarti Chabria) is a girl from Bangalore who studies in college and comes to Mysore for her vacation to stay with her elder brother Bobby (

Rangayana Raghu Koththuru Chikkarangappa Raghunath (born 17 April 1965), known by his screen name Rangayana Raghu, is an Indian film and stage actor, known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is a recipient of multiple Filmfare Awards South, SIIMA Awards, an ...

) and his wife (

Chitra Shenoy Chitra Shenoy is an Indian actress and producer in South Indian movies and television series. She has acted in more than 600 films predominately in Kannada and Malayalam. She is known as the 'young mother' in the Kannada film industry having po ...

). Rajani falls in love with Sandhya at first sight and starts chasing her to win her heart and enters the upper portion of their house as tenants with his brother Chandrashekar (

Ramesh Bhat Ramesh Bhat is a multiple-award–winning Indian actor. He has worked predominantly in Kannada films and television serials. Early life Ramesh Bhat was born in Kundapur, Karnataka. He completed his primary education at Manki and portrayed nat ...

) and sister-in-law ( Thulasi Shivamani). In the process, Rajani has a clash with local rowdy Lanka Raju (

Kadhal Dhandapani Kadhal Dhandapani (17 April 1943 – 20 July 2014) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He rose to fame portraying the antagonist in Balaji Sakthivel's ''Kaadhal'' ...

). Mistaking him to be one Tapori, Sandhya hates him first but later realizes his true nature. She returns to Bangalore and lives with her older brother Sharath (

Sharath Lohitashwa Sharatchandra Lohithaswa (born 5 May 1972), known popularly as Sharath Lohithaswa, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Kannada cinema alongside some Tamil and Telugu films. He has had a successful career in theatre, where he continue ...

), a former builder and now a very powerful rowdy who is very possessive and protective about his sister. Rajani follows Sandhya to Bangalore and works his way into her house with Bobby's help, and finally, both of them confess their love. There, Rajani knows Sandhya's flashback and how she is being chased by the notorious and cruel Jakka (

Mukul Dev Mukul Dev Kaushal (; 17 September 1970 – 23 May 2025) was an Indian television and film actor. He was renowned for his roles in Hindi and Punjabi films, TV series, and music albums, and also appeared in Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, and Te ...

), assisted by his uncle (

Doddanna Doddanna is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry who has acted in about 800 films. He started his career as a theatre actor. During this time, he entered the Kannada film industry as a character actor. Early life The youngest son in t ...

) for marriage. In the end, Sharath kills Jakka, and Rajani marries Sandhya.

Cast

as Rajani * Aarti Chabria as Sandhya *

as Jagadish Karnath alias Jakka *

as Paandu *

as Lanka Raju *

Sadhu Kokila Sahaya Sheelan Shadrach, (born 24 March 1966) known by his Stage name Sadhu Kokila, is an Indian comedian, musician, actor, film director, producer, occasional screenwriter and lyricist who works in Kannada cinema. He began his career as a com ...

as The person who lives in neighbouring Place of banglore *

Ramakrishna Ramakrishna (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886——— —), also called Ramakrishna Paramahansa (; ; ), born Ramakrishna Chattopadhay,M's original Bengali diary page 661, Saturday, 13 February 1886''More About Ramakrishna'' by Swami Prab ...

as Government Officer *

as Bobby *

as Sharath *

as Bobby's wife *

as MRO Chandrashekhar * Thulasi Shivamani as Chandrashekhar's wife *

Bullet Prakash Bullet Prakash (2 April 1976 – 6 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Kannada cinema. Known for portraying comic roles, Prakash appeared in over 325 films. He earned the nickname "Bullet" because he used to ride the motorbike, Roy ...

* Mandya Ramesh * Sathyajith as Advocate Sushil Kumar * Kuri Prathap * Killer Venkatesh

Soundtrack

The film's score and soundtrack is composed by

. The audio released under the

Anand Audio Anand Audio is an Indian music record label company in Karnataka. It is primarily known for publishing and marketing Sandalwood cinema sound tracks. History Anand Audio was founded on 25 March 1999 by late Mohan Chabria. List of artists *Anurad ...

label.

Reception

Critical response

A critic from

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

wrote "The film is technically superior with good fights and song sequences. "Rajini" is a huge entertainer for Upendra fans. 'Rajini' a must-watch for Upendra fans". BS Srivani from

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

wrote "Coming to music, it is refreshing to see that Hamsalekha has loosened up a bit. He blasts some ‘jhakaas’ music for the front-benchers while some sensitive listeners are bound to be amazed at the cheek of the lyrics in two songs (Thriller Manju aims to thrill, after all). This Rajani is one ‘fultoo’ entertainer". A critic from

Bangalore Mirror ''Bangalore Mirror'' is an English-language daily published by The Times Group in Bangalore, India, as a compact newspaper. It is a deputed newspaper and is the second-largest circulating English daily in the city. In 2020, as part of its COVID ...

wrote "Stunt master turned director Thriller Manju finally manages to direct a film worth watching. After two dozen original films and a copied logo for his production house, Ramu reverses the trend here. He gets an original logo done and remakes the Telugu film Krishna. And for all those producers calling for austerity measures, this film has an answer. There is a song in which Upendra goes after Aarati asking her to follow him to Nandi Hills and Basavanagudi. The song has been shot abroad".

References

{{reflist 2009 films Indian action comedy films Kannada remakes of Telugu films 2009 action comedy films 2000s Kannada-language films Films scored by Hamsalekha 2000s masala films