"Well it's finally here, after a long wait we get to see a tamil movie. Ratchakan!" - so much has been said about this film in 1997
It's said to be the most expensive tamil movie so far. It's also said that it has a different story from any other Indian movie; Looking at the title one may think that Ratchakan is something like a younger-character version of Indian or a movie with a patriotic theme; but it is NOTHING like that. It's just another stylised love action story with some glamorous conventions of the late 90s meant to appeal to couples in their 20s or 30s in those times.
The story goes something like this... Ajay(Nagarjun) an unemployed youth always gets into trouble because of his temper. He gets heated up when he sees anyone committing a crime; he takes the law in his own hands... beats them up and then gives them some free advice. Ajay's father, played by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, is very unhappy at his son's attitude, and tries his level best to change Ajay but he fails in this matter. Ajay meets Soniya(Susmitha Sen) and she falls for him instantly. What Soniya likes about Ajay is his temper. Soniya gets Ajay's father S.P.B's help to get Ajay to love her. Ajay is not interested in her at first; but later changes his mind and falls in love with her.
Soniya's father Sriram(Girish Karnad) a businessman, has no objection to his daughter's relationship... But has one condition; which is , Ajay must control his temper for 90 days and not get into any fight what so ever, even though he sees a crime happening in front of his eyes. If Ajay doesn't succeed he can't marry Soniya. With a heavy heart Ajay agrees to the condition, and Sriram offers Ajay a job in his factory. Sriram actually has his own problems in his factory; 10 of his workers are working with his rival Easwar(Raghuvaran). Easwar is trying to put Sriram out of business and so his 10 people create havoc in the factory by killing old workers and "ragging" new workers. So when Ajay comes to work in Sriram's factory these 10 people do the same to Ajay. Ajay keeps cool, trying to keep his promise to Sriram. But Sriram hopes otherwise; he WANTS Ajay to break the promise and beat up the 10 people and throw them out of the factory; At the same time, Sriram hopes that the imminent marriage between Ajay and Soniya would get cancelled, since he doesn't want his daughter to be married to a "gangster/street fighter" like Ajay. So Sriram keeps on hoping that Ajay will somehow "burst out" so that his plans will succeed.
Will Ajay break the Condition? Will Sriram's plan succeed? Will Easwar's plan succeed? Watch the movie and find out for yourself! Overall an average movie; but here are the credits: A.R. Rahman music is the BEST ever (9 songs altogether),
The music picturization of the songs are Excellent. There are some good & dramatic action scenes; one in particular, is the scene is where Soniya has to drive a 20-wheel oil tanker (ordered by Easwar to do so) and if the tanker's speed goes below a certain speed limit the tanker will explode into flames. (elements of Hollywood movie SPEED). However poor execution marred the potential of the action elements in the movie .
Nagarjun seems too old for action movies and spends time running around & dancing with a very young Susmitha Sen. Susmitha's acting in not convincing but does her glamour job very well . So if you like action movies and don't bother about the story or the actors; then this movie is for you. As my last words this is a Romance- Action movie; since there are no other tamil movies showing now this movie will be a great pass time and especially the music by AR Rahman is one for the finest in his career.
