Roja is a film that many feel has been a turning point in Indian cinema. The North, that usually gets all the media hype & coverage in spite of poor techniques and stories got a slap on its face when this Tamil movie was dubbed in Hindi, to enable the larger population to watch this film with a topical theme (of Kashmiri militancy). Movies from the South have always been better in content and form compared to the North. And this movie created that awareness amongst the public there, and its success encouraged many other films to be dubbed in Hindi.
And many a star was born:
1. Mani Ratnam (who had given better films like Mouna Ragam, Nayakan, Geetanjali and Anjali before)
2. A R Rahman aka Dileep Shekar: The man who brought in the New Sound to the Indian film music (lest they forget Music Maestro Ilayaraja's genius, with whom he was a lead keyboard player once) and threat to the copycats of yore: The Annu Maliks and the Anand Milinds
3. Santosh Sivan: The cinematographer, now-turned director
4. Arvind Swamy: The chubby-cheeked fair-skinned hero who appealed to the color-conscious Northies. And his patriotic fervour was well lapped up.
5. Madhoo: The ugly duckling as she was presented in her debut movie was transformed into a lovely and believable Roja- a village belle in awe of the city life and courageous when her life becomes hell with her husband's abduction.
What was interestingly presented in the Tamil Original (but lost completely in the Hindi version, as every character speaks Hindi) was the language problem she faces in the North.
I watched the film thrice.
