Roja Movie Quotes

On the day Roja released, Rahman’s younger sister Fathima was sitting in a theatre in Chennai with her friends, all set to watch the movie. The opening credits rolled, the film began and the first song—‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ as you might guess—played with the movie’s heroine singing the song, scaling Chalakudy’s waterfall and playing in the verdant fields of the South Indian countryside. The song was already a hit and by the intermission, Fathima heard a very drunk man sitting in a seat behind her say, ‘Evano semayaa paattu pottu vachchurukaan da.’ (Whoever did the music for this has done a great job.) ‘That’s when I knew,’ she says with a laugh. ‘That’s when I knew my brother had got it right. I was so proud.

The official change of name and faith occurred only days before the release of Roja. In fact, in the title sequences of even the final edit of the movie, AR was credited under his old name. ‘Literally just before the release,’ remembers Trilok Nair, ‘we got a call from Amma saying his name in the movie had to be changed. It was a pretty big request to make so late in the day, but she was particular about it. She said it really, really mattered to her personally. In fact, she would’ve rather not had his name appear at all, than not have his new name appear on the credits.’ So Trilok Nair called up Mani Ratnam and asked if he could make the change AR’s mother was asking for. Eventually, Mani Ratnam agreed. ‘If it means so much to this boy,’ he said, ‘I’ll get it done.