Even if not remaking the film per se, one would hope that directors who borrow the name of a popular yesteryear film will respect the title and bestow it on a film that, even if no classic, will atleast not besmirch the name. That hope was dashed when Ahathiyan made Nenjathai Killaadhey and Rajadhi Raja doesn't fare any better. Rajni's film of the same name was clean, funny and non-violent. This 2009 version is none of those things. If movies like Pasanga and Yaavarum Nalam point to the direction we hope Tamil cinema goes in, Rajadhi Raja is the posterboy for the direction we fervently hope Tamil cinema doesn't take.

When Raja was a young boy, his father lost his arm after a botched operation done by a drunk doctor and was then branded a criminal by the machinations of a policeman and a lawyer. So his dying father extracted a promise from Raja that he would make his three elder brothers a doctor, a policeman and a lawyer. Raja(Raghava Lawrence) has worked hard to make his father's dream come true but his brothers don't turn out to be the honest, conscientious professionals his father wanted them to be. Meanwhile, Raja also has to deal with the corrupt Health and Welfare minister(Mumtaj), who is itching for revenge after Raja insults her while saving his sister from her grip.

Director Shakti Chidambaram seems to have assumed that directing a masala film automatically absolves him of the need to insert any realism into the film. That's the only way one can explain the complete lack of logic and realism in the movie. Learning that Lawrence managed to provide enough money to educate his three older brothers by driving a rundown van gives us an idea of what to expect but that still doesn't prepare us adequately for the proceedings in the rest of the movie. As Tamil cinema viewers, corrupt politicians and cops are not new to us but the bad guys here are just too over-the-top. As Mumtaz kills a priest and Bose drives a nail into a man's head in public, the brazenness of their acts makes them characters with no semblance of realism.

The film has romance, sentiments and comedy, the essential ingredients of any masala movie. But they are all presented in an incredibly crass and crude fashion. Meenakshi's bold wooing of Lawrence is soaked in vulgarity and Chidambaram uses any excuse, like Snigda seeing Lawrence and Kaamna roll around after he saves her, to insert a duet. The movie also goes to any lengths to add in some sentiments but with all the nastiness flying around, the sentiments feel fake and have no chance of making an impact. Familiar ploys like Karunas attempting to impress Meenakshi and getting irritated over the way she is all over Lawrence are used to raise laughs but they are futile.

The hero taking revenge on three bad guys is a familiar scenario but Lawrence's targets here are his own brothers. That and the fact that he earns their trust and is living with them while secretly planning their downfall sound like plot points that could be translated into an interesting screenplay. Not here. The three brothers come off as being completely dumb for being unable to sniff out Lawrence inspite of his amateurish and transparent plans. And the way they do things(Yugendran's attempted rape of a schoolgirl is picturized in an incredibly distasteful and perverted manner and represents the nadir of the movie's reprehensible proceedings) to facilitate being caught ensures that Lawrence doesn't have to come up with any bright ideas either.

Lawrence imitates Rajni at every possible opportunity and gets on our nerves. Mumtaz enjoys herself playing the bad girl. She is over-the-top too but in a way that tells us that she isn't taking things too seriously. She has slimmed down and actually looks better than all three heroines. Meenakshi, Sniggda and Kaamna know exactly what they've been hired for and do the needful. Its hard not to feel sorry Kaamna, who was introduced in the reasonably high-profile Idhaya Thirudan not too long ago and is relegated to the role of a third heroine who doesn't even get the chance to romance the hero.

What passes for a punch dialog in this film is Lawrence repeating a word in Tamil and English and helpfully telling us which is which(like "Tamil-la sonnaa aappu, English-la sonna rivetu"). Using that style, this movie is "English-la sonnaa crappu, Tamil-la sonnaa mosam".