Pokkiri Raja (Eng: Rogue King) is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by S. P. Muthuraman and written by Panchu Arunachalam. A remake of the Telugu film Chuttalunnaru Jagratha (1980), it stars Rajinikanth, Sridevi and Raadhika. Pokkiri Raja revolves around a man who was framed for murder, and a lookalike who aids him in finding the true killers. It was released on 14 January 1982 and became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in theatres.
Ramesh is the manager of the office of Paranthaman, an industrialist. Paranthaman strongly suspects his relatives to be looting him. Ramesh finds the culprit and keeps a tight leash on everything happening in the office, thereby earning the wrath of the industrialist’s relatives. Ramesh and Vanaja (Paranthaman’s daughter) initially find themselves at loggerheads, but eventually fall in love with each other. Paranthaman is happy about this development until he sees Ramesh cheating on his daughter. He fires Ramesh the very same day.
Paranthaman is murdered and Vanaja also sees Ramesh in her house that same night. Ramesh is dragged to court and is shortly framed for murder. Vanaja is upset, and the ill-intentioned relatives start closing their net around her, forcing her to marry Chandran, the son of Paranthaman’s relative Venkatachalam.
In the meantime, the grief-stricken Ramesh meets another person named Raja in jail who looks exactly like him. Together Ramesh and Raja plan to punish the culprits and set the record straight. Chandran later reveals himself and Venkatachalam as the murderers of Paranthaman, but Raja records the entire statement on tape; after Ramesh and Raja subdue Chandran and Venkatachalam’s thugs, the tape is played in the court, and both killers are arrested.
Directed by S. P. Muthuraman
Produced by M. Kumaran, M. Saravanan & M. Balasubramaniam
Screenplay by Panchu Arunachalam
Based on Chuttalunnaru Jagratha
Starring Rajinikanth, Sridevi, Raadhika
Music by M. S. Viswanathan
Cinematography Babu
Edited by R. Vittal
Production AVM Productions
Release date 14 January 1982
Running time 138 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Visitor Rating: 2 Stars