Pokkiri Raja (1982) - Tamil Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Rajnikanth, Sridevi, Manorama, Muthuraman, Y.G. Mahendran, Radhika
Director: S.P. Muthuraman
Music: M.S. Vishwanathan

Stereotypical movie from the 80's. When you see them now you feel like you have seen it a hundred times before...But these were the movies that laid foundation to many modern stories on the silver screen.

The story is simple, Rajnikanth starts managing the office of an industrialist who strongly suspects his relatives to be looting him. Rajni finds the culprit and keeps a tight leash on everything happening in the office thereby earning the wrath of the bad relatives. Rajni and Sridevi (industrialist's daughter) who were at loggerheads initially also fall in love soon. The industrialist is happy about this development until he sees Rajni cheating on his daughter. He fires Rajni the very same day.

The industrialist is murdered and Sridevi also sees Rajni in her house that same night. Rajni is dragged to court and is shortly framed for murdering the industrialist. Sridevi is upset and the ill-intentioned relatives start closing their reign around her forcing her to marry Y.G. Mahendran (the son of Muthuraman and Manorama who are the industrialist's relatives).

In the meantime griefstricken Rajni in jail meets another person who looks exactly like him (Rajni 2). Together Rajni 1 and Rajni 2 plan to punish the culprits and set the records straight...A little confusion, fun, and a happy ending...I am sure everyone can guess how that might happen!

Very simple movie, slow at times but still entertaining. You can see all the components of acting that make the term "Rajni Style" and also Rajni at his peak. Sridevi acts really well as the daughter of the industrialist and so does Radhika as the girlfriend of the second Rajni. In other words a total time pass movie and worth watching with your whole family!