Seema Raja (Eng: King from a foreign territory) is a 2018 Indian Tamil action drama film written and directed by Ponram and produced by R. D. Raja. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan, Samantha and Soori in the lead roles, with a supporting cast including Napoleon, Lal, and Simran. The film features music composed by D. Imman and cinematography by Balasubramaniem. The movie was released on 13 September 2018. The film was a box office disaster in Sivakarthikeyan’s career.
The film begins outlining the sour relationship between the two villages, Singampatti and Puliyampatti. Seema Raja (Sivakarthikeyan) is a jobless youth from Singampatti, born in a family with a long lineage of brave people; the main one being King Kadambavel (Sivakarthikeyan). He does good things in the village for likes on Facebook and pays other villagers to treat him with respect. He hangs around with his sidekick/accountant Kannaku (Soori). The principal from a nearby school invites Seema Raja’s father Ariya Raja (Napoleon) to the awards ceremony at the school. However, due to his father’s busy schedule, Seema Raja offers to go instead. Here, he meets Sunthanthira Selvi (Samantha), a sports teacher and Silambam expert, and immediately falls in love with her. He then goes around following her, trying to court her.
Singampatti and Puliyampatti have been in a grudge over the market square for many years. The grudge has remained ingrained in the villagers, but they have not indulged in any sort of significant violence for a long time. It started again, where some villagers from Singampatti entered the closed market square and began to play cricket. This caused a large fight, which was only put to an end when Seema Raja offered to hold a wrestling match with the other village. Whichever village wins the match gets to have the market square, and the other village is driven out. To make matters worse, to test whether Seema Raja is just severely infatuated or genuinely in love with her and ascertain if he is a good suitor, Selvi tells Seema Raja to lose the wrestling match. Seema Raja is devastated. Seema Raja forms a group of other un-serious fighters, whilst Puliyampatti forms a group of very built fighters.
The wrestling match occurs with Puliyampatti beating the first few fighters with ease. Kanakku then comes to the circle, providing himself with the opportunity to show off his toned abs to the public. This match also ends in failure. Seema Raja is the final fighter (i.e. if he lost, Puliyampatti would win). At first, when he sees her, Seema Raja allows the opposing fighter to beat him up, but when she disappears, he proficiently takes down each fighter one by one. Seema Raja wins the match for Puliyampatti but rather than hog the spoils for his village, he decides to try and heal the grudge between the two villages by splitting the market square amongst them. This receives support from both villages. Seema Raja begins to gain more respect, and Selvi begins to reciprocate his love.
Kathaadi Kannan (Lal) and Kaaleeshwari (Simran) are two antagonists of the film. Kannan used to be a butcher but then took on the opportunity to purchase vast swathes of land to create wind farms. His greedy plans begin to put agriculture at risk and thus puts him at loggerheads with Seema Raja. A fight between the two ensues with him kidnapping Selvi and imprisoning her at his house. Here, a flashback occurs showing that Selvi was Kannan’s daughter with his first wife. He leaves his first wife for Kaaleeshwari, causing his ex-wife to commit suicide by falling into a well. Ariya Raja attempts to stop this rapid acquisition of land. however, the villagers insult him and mock him for not doing anything for the people when they were under his control. This causes him to die of a broken heart. A funeral is carried out for him. Whilst Seema Raja is mourning his death, his grandfather chastises him for being so irresponsible. He begins to explain Seema Raja’s ancestry, starting off with the brave Kadambavel and his wife Bhoomi (Keerthy Suresh). He narrates the stories of Kadambavel’s fights against the foreigners, protecting his Tamil land. He explains how he exploited the Vallari, a type of boomerang, to his advantage to defeat the vast Muslim army, led by Malik Kafur. These stories of sheer chivalry motivate Seema Raja to take on his father’s responsibility and become mature.
Seema Raja remains unaware of Selvi’s love for him. He goes to court and attempts to allow Selvi to leave the house. However, since she has been blackmailed by Kaaleshwari (if she said she was being held against her will, she would kill her sister), she replied, ‘ask my father’ to every question that the police asked. The police quashed Seema Raja’s case, and he was devastated. However, understanding the double meaning behind it, Seema Raja goes to Selvi’s foster father and asks him what Selvi meant by it. Here, he finds out about her love for him. Seema Raja first thwarts Kannan’s plan for rapid acquisition by meeting and agreeing a new deal with the Raj of Udaipur. The detail would enable them to construct a wind farm on their land, whilst also allowing them to farm on the land and receive rent for the land that the wind farm is present on, thus providing them with a sustainable income. At first, the villagers were hesitant but then, they agreed. Kannan is furious. Seema Raja returns to the house to break out Selvi and run away. Kannan and Kaaleeshwari then realize this and begin to chase them. They again recapture her and prepare to kill her by hanging her from the wind turbine as a revenge for thwarting their business plans. Seema Raja arrives in time to save her, and a fight ensures, where Kaaleeshwari is crushed to death by the wind turbine and Kannan is defeated. Seema Raja and Selvi then live happily ever after.
Directed by Ponram
Produced by R. D. Raja
Written by Ponram
Starring Sivakarthikeyan, Samantha, Soori, Napoleon, Lal, Simran
Music by D. Imman
Cinematography Balasubramaniem
Edited by Vivek Harshan
Production 24AM Studios
Distributed by 24AM Studios
Release date 13 September 2018
Running time 158 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
