After watching the S Govind's Kannada movie, Raaj Kumari, it is clear that it is the remake of the Tamil film, Ananda Poongaatre which starred Ajit, Meena and Karthick. Govind has made a faithful copy of the original.
You have regressive scenes where a rape victim is made to marry the rapist by the village head who is a Panchayat chief. You also have a well educated girl adopting an orphan and pretending to be a widow for reasons known only to herself. You also have the same crude jokes which was rampant in the Kannada version too.
A shame really as Raaj Kumari was touted to be Balaji's (Ravichandran's brother) comeback film. His last two films were non starters at the box office. It could have been a perfect launching pad for him if only Govind had tried to infuse some of the native aspects in the film. But the director fails to reinvent the script for the Kannada audience. Though Ravichandran has done a small role in the film as a music teacher, the film fails to excite even then.
The story goes like this: Kumari moves to a colony to bring up her child. She is mistaken as a widow by her neighbours. Raaj takes a liking to her while another woman, Babli takes a liking to him. In a flashback, it is revealed that Kumari is the daughter of a rich village head. She encounters a tragedy on her engagement day when her music teacher is killed, which leads her to the city to bring up his child. The irony is that she is engaged to Raaj.
Balaji has tried to give his best as Raaj. Though there are three heroines, it is Kanniha who has the major role. Despite the fact that Nikitha is featured more in the promos of the film [thanks to her new acquired status after being paired with Puneet and Upendra], her role is limited to a few sequences and songs. But what a sizzling song sequence!
Rumaneethu Chowdhary appears in a song sequence with Ravichandran. Ravichandran appears as a school teacher who flexes his muscles. Srinivasa Murthy, Thulasi, Rangayana Raghu, Bullet Prakash are more theatrical than natural.
Joshi's camera work is just above ordinary. Surprisingly, Harikrishna's music does not reach the levels he had attained in films like Junglee and Ambaari.
In a nutshell, Raaj Kumari is a film without any soul .
Rediff Rating: