Saroja (2008 film)

kadhal
Directed by	Venkat Prabhu
Written by	Venkat Prabhu
Produced by	T. Shiva
Starring	Prakash Raj Shiva Vaibhav Reddy SPB Charan Premji Amaren Vega Tamotia Kajal Aggarwal Nikita Thukral Sampath Raj
Cinematography	Sakthi Saravanan
Edited by	K. L. Praveen N. B. Srikanth
Music by	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production company	Amma Creations
Distributed by	Pyramid Saimira
Release date	5 September 2008
Running time	190 mins
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Saroja is a 2008 Tamil comedy thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu and produced by T. Shiva. It stars Shiva, Vaibhav Reddy, Premji Amaren, S. P. B. Charan, and Vega Tamotia in the lead and Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Kajal Aggarwal, Sampath Raj, Nikita Thukral and Nagendran in other vital roles. Several other popular Tamil television artists and crew members make special appearances throughout the film. The score and soundtrack were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.

The film, which was critically acclaimed, takes inspiration from the 1993 Hollywood film Judgment Night. Simultaneously made in Tamil and Telugu, the film released on 5 September 2008.

Matilda D’ Silva, who sang the song "Cheeky Cheeky" in the film with Yuvan Shankar Raja and Nirdhiya, was a contestant on the reality show Singapore Idol. Saroja also featured a promo song. It has an English track written and composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and sung by Tanvi Shah. Shruthi Haasan was initially offered the role of the titular character but later rejected it.

Plot

Ajay Raj (Shiva), Ganesh (Premji Amaren), Jagapathi Babu (SPB Charan), and Ram Babu (Vaibhav) spend a lot of time together in Chennai. Ajay's a TV serial artist. Ganesh's a fun-loving man who falls in love with every woman he sees. Jagapathi Babu's an engineer. Jagapathi got married. Jagapathi still lives with his wife and six year-old daughter. Jagapathi's younger brother is Ram.

Ram is in love with Pooja (Kajal Aggarwal) but, before he has a chance to tell her, Pooja tells Ram that she is in love with Ajay. Pooja and Ajay eventually get engaged, and Ram is heartbroken. He soon forgets his grief and has a good time with his friends Ajay, Ganesh, and Jagapathy.

One day, the four friends decide to go in Ajay's old ramshackle caravan (a Volkswagen Samba) to Hyderabad to watch a cricket match.

Vishwanath (Prakash Raj) is a business tycoon in Hyderabad who has no time for his wife and teenage daughter Saroja (Vega Tamotia). One day, Saroja is kidnapped, and the police enter the scene, with Vishwanath's friend ACP Ravichandran (Jayaram) handling the case.

Meanwhile, a huge tanker lorry carrying highly inflammable and dangerous chemicals overturns on the National Highway between Chennai and Hyderabad and the four friends are stuck in a massive traffic jam. They attempt to take a shortcut to Hyderabad, but they end up in a dark, desolate area where their real troubles begin.

After arguing about which direction to take at a crossroad, Ajay convinces the others to drive the car into a forest, receiving instructions from Venkat Prabhu in a cameo appearance. As they proceed further, an injured man (played by Bose Venkat) suddenly falls on their car from above. Wanting to save the dying man, Jagapathi Babu asks Ganesh and Ram Babu to ask for help in a nearby building. Ajay, horrified by the injured man's bullet wounds, is even more shocked when the dying man urges Jagapathi and Ajay to escape. Jagapathi, however, attempts to save the man, who repeatedly urges them to leave quickly.

A few men arrive in a jeep and start to shoot at them from a distance. Ajay rushes to the driver's seat and attempts to flee from the area. Their van gets hit by the other vehicle and is overturned, throwing the injured man outside. Shiva and Jagapathi remain inside the van. Sampath, the leader of the gang in the black jeep, steps out of his vehicle and shoots the dying man after a short conversation. Sampath then discovers that two men (Jagapathi and Ajay) had attempted to save the injured man, and he orders his henchmen to kill them. Upon hearing Sampath's order to kill them, Ajay and Jagapathi run for their lives.

Meanwhile, Ganesh and Ram Babu have entered the abandoned factory in search of help. Finding the place empty, they walk out and wander around for some time. They soon reach the place where the van had overturned and realize that their friends are missing. At the same time, Ajay and Jagapathi are trapped inside a room within close range of one of the hitmen and escape narrowly. Ganesh and Ram continue to search the area for their friends and eventually find them after fighting with a few hitmen. Realizing that they are caught in a dangerous situation, all four run away from the factory toward the distant sound of a train. They barely manage to board the train's last car. Jagapathi does not board the train; he sees that his pocket has been torn, and he deduces that his purse had fallen somewhere inside the factory. Ajay and Ram frantically attempt to convince Jagapathi to board the train. Jagapathi fears that the assassins might cause problems for his wife and child, since his purse (containing his identity) might be in the hands of the gangsters. Thus, all four friends return to the factory to recover the lost purse.

After a short argument in which the frightened Ajay hesitates to go along with Jagapathi to the factory, Ganesh is pushed to accompany him. Jagapathi and Ganesh enter the room where the purse was dropped. One of the gangsters momentarily walks into the room, in the view of Ganesh. Ganesh hides and tries to warn Jagapathi to stay out of sight. When Jagapathi finds the purse and turns around he realizes that Ganesh has disappeared. After searching the room thoroughly, Jagapathi decides to leave. When he walks out, Ajay and Ram are waiting alone, and there is no sign of Ganesh. This sparks off another argument; Ajay asserts that he would not leave the place without Ganesh. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Ganesh had wandered into another room to save himself. Finding Saroja tied up inside, he frees her and explains to her that he is not a member of the gang. In his usual manner, he falls in love and tries to impress her. Saroja and Ganesh then sneak out of the room. The other three set out to rescue Ganesh, but they get caught in the process.

Sampath continues to demand money from Vishwanath to release his daughter. ACP Ravichandran consoles Vishwanath and does all he can to help rescue Saroja. Meanwhile, the gangsters taunt the three men they have captured and continue to do so until Kalyani (Nikita Thukral), Sampath's girlfriend, walks in and informs the group that Saroja has escaped. Sampath sends all of his men to find the girl, leaving a single gangster with the three captives. Ram attacks the gangster and kills him. They run out of the factory and catch up with Ganesh and Saroja. They are soon trapped in a building with a single entry. The henchmen follow them and await them in front. The friends are convinced that the only way to escape is to fight the gangsters. Suddenly, Jagapathi comes up with the idea of designing a contraption using objects in the building as weapons in a grand "Rube Goldberg machine." In the meantime, Sampath asks Vishwanath to come to the area at once to take his daughter in exchange for the ransom money. Soon, Vishwanath and ACP Ravichandran arrive, and Ravichandran is disguised as Vishwanath's driver.

The four friends and Saroja finally arrive at the railway station to escape. They soon realize to their horror that the railway station is actually the exact spot where Sampath is planning to collect the ransom money from Vishwanath and Ravichandran. Vishwanath and Ravichandran are standing on the other side of the tracks. Saroja leaves the hideout, crosses the tracks, and embraces Ravichandran out of relief.

Just as Vishwanath’s overjoyed that his daughter’s back in safe hands, Ravi pulls out a gun and points it at Saroja. Vishwanath realizes that Ravi’s actually the mastermind behind Saroja's abduction and Sampath’s just another henchman responsible for carrying out Ravi's orders. Flashback: Ravi & Sampath have long been jealous of Vishwanath for his social status and wealth. Jagapathi & Ajay saw Sampath killing the man, who was 1 of Sampath’s accomplices. Ravi ordered Sampath to kill the man, who got hit by Ajay’s caravan.

Ajay & his friends notice that Ravi’s pointing his gun at Saroja. Ajay & his friends fight Sampath & his last henchman. They kill Sampath’s last henchman. Sampath’s injuries are serious. Ravi throws Saroja onto the ground. Ravi pushes Vishwanath on to the ground. Ajay & his friends are kicking Sampath. Ravi kicks Ajay & his friends. Ravi holds Sampath’s head, but Sampath dies. Ram Babu’s friends fight Ravi, but Ravi’s strong. Ravi’s about to kill some of Ram Babu’s friends, but Vishwanath uses Ravi’s gun to kill Ravi. Saroja’s reunited with her dad. Saroja & her dad want to give Ajay & his friends a ride. Ajay & his friends try to recall the name of the girl they have just rescued.

Cast

• Jayaram as Ravichandran
• Prakash Raj as Vishwanath
• SPB Charan as Jagapathi Babu
• Premji Amaren as Ganesh Kumar
• Shiva as Ajay Raj
• Vaibhav Reddy as Ram Babu
• Sampath Raj as Sampath
• Vega Tamotia as Saroja Vishwanath
• Kajal Aggarwal as Pooja
• Nikita Thukral as Kalyani
• Nagendran as Naaga

Special appearances by actors during the song "Aaja Meri Soniye" (in alphabetical order) by:

• Anantha Kannan
• Badava Gopi
• Chetan
• Deepa Venkat
• Deepak
• Devadarshini
• Devipriya
• Divyadarshini
• George
• Latha Rao
• M. S. Baskar
• Preethi
• Raadhika Sarathkumar
• Rajkamal
• Ranjitha
• Sri
• Tinku
• Venkat

Special appearances by actors throughout the film (in alphabetical order) by:

• Ajay Raj
• Ammu
• Aravind Akash
• Brahmanandam
• Deepa Venkat
• Jai
• K. R. Vijaya
• Nalini
• Nithin Sathya
• Sakthi Saravanan
• T. Siva
• Venkat Prabhu
• Vijay Vasanth
• Vijayalakshmi Agathiyan
• Yuvan Shankar Raja

Soundtrack

Untitled

After the success of Chennai 600028 (2007), director Venkat Prabhu teamed up with his cousin Yuvan Shankar Raja again for the musical score of Saroja. The soundtrack was released on 15 July 2008 at the Chennai Trade Center Convention Hall in Nandambakkam by composer A. R. Rahman. It features six tracks, out of which one song ("My Life") was designed as a promotional song, which would feature in television channels and popularize the film. The song, also composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, was performed by Indian band "Yodhakaa" from Mumbai. The lyrics were provided by 'Kavignar' Vaali, Gangai Amaran and Yuvan Shankar Raja himself. The song "Cheeky Cheeky" was sung by Mathilda D'Silva, along with Yuvan Shankar Raja and Nirdhiya, who was a contestant of the reality show Singapore Idol.

No.	Song	Singers	Length (m:ss)	Lyrics	Notes
1	"Aaja Meri Soniye"	Vijay Yesudas, S. P. B. Charan, Premgi Amaren	4:30	Gangai Amaren	Picturised on Shiva, Vaibhav Reddy, SPB Charan, Premji Amaren, & Kajal Aggarwal and several television actors and actress (see under Cast)
2	"Dosth Bada Dosth"	Haricharan, Naveen, Rahul Nambiar	4:40	Vaali	Picturised on Shiva, Vaibhav Reddy, SPB Charan, & Premji Amaren
3	"Nimirindhu Nil"	Shankar Mahadevan	4:53	Gangai Amaren	Picturised on Shiva, Vaibhav Reddy, SPB Charan, Premji Amaren, & Vega Tamotia
4	"Cheeky Cheeky"	Yuvan Shankar Raja, Matilda D'Silva, Nirdhiya	3:50	Vaali and Yuvan Shankar Raja	Picturised on Vega Tamotia & Yuvan Shankar Raja
5	"Kodaana Kodi"	Mohammad Aslam, Ranina, Kavi	4:57	Gangai Amaren	Picturised on Sampath Raj & Nikita Thukral
6	"My Life"	Tanvi Shah	3:29	Yuvan Shankar Raja	Soundtrack film performed by the band "Yoddhakka"

Reception

The film received highly positive reviews worldwide. It was a huge commercial success as well grossing almost $4 million at the box office in the first 14 days according to the comparison website Behindwoods.com, thus making it Venkat Prabhu's second successive hit after Chennai 600028.

External links

• Official Website
• Saroja at IMDb
• Saroja songs at Raaga