Raja Rani (2013 film)

John and Regina agree to marry each other for the sake of their parents. After the marriage, they live together as strangers in their apartment, where the neighbours are upset with John who comes home drunk every night, which he does deliberately to annoy Regina, who later applies for a transfer to Australia. One night, Regina breaks into fits and John takes her to the hospital, where he is unable to respond to the doctor's queries about Regina's age and medical history due to his intoxicated state. When John goes to apologise to the doctor later on, he is told that it is important to know about his wife's health even if he dislikes her. John asks Regina about her health issues, where she reveals that she had fits twice in the past.

Past: During college, Regina falls in love with Surya Muthuraman, who works in the call centre of a mobile company. Surya gets selected for airline cabin-crew training in the US, where he and Regina decide to inform their parents about their love, but Surya's father objects to their relationship and hence they decide to get married without informing their parents. On the designated day, Surya fails to show up at the registrars office for the wedding. Regina's father, James, feels sorry for his daughter and takes her to Surya's house, where they learn that Surya has already left for the US. Few days later, Regina gets a call from Surya's friend Aiyappan and learns that Surya had committed suicide. Due to the shock, Regina suffers fits for the first time. 3 years later, Regina can't stand the fact her father is in a mess due to her reluctancy to marry, and accepts the marriage proposal from John's family for her father's sake.

Present: Upon hearing this story, John begins to like Regina and now has immense respect for her, but Regina continues to treat John with scant respect, until Sarathy comes to their flat and reveals what happened in John's past.

Past: John, who roams around town with his friend Sarathy, falls in love with Keerthana when he comes to pick up a cheque on behalf of Sarathy’s uncle. John falls in love with Keerthana at first sight and roams round trying to find out more about her. Eventually he finds out about Keerthana, but she rejects his love after he assaults her co-worker. However, it’s revealed that Keerthana loves John but she never showed it openly. John ties the knot with Keerthana a couple days later and they get married. The day after their marriage, Keerthana dies in a car accident leaving John heartbroken, where he decides not to marry another girl. 4 years later, Sarathy consoles and convinces John to marry again, which leads John to marry Regina.

Present: Upon learning this, Regina develops feelings for John and feels sorry for his loss, as he witnessed his ex-wife pass away in person. Even though John and Regina like each other, they never reveal it to each other. On John's birthday, Regina gives a gift to John and insists that he open it alone, but John doesn’t open the gift and throws it under the bed as he thinks that Regina is only pretending to be affectionate in front of James, who later witnesses this and thinks that John was acting affectionate with Regina in front of everyone. James tells Regina about John privately, but Regina remains confused as she genuinely has feelings for John, but thought John had feelings for her. Regina's request for the transfer to Australia is approved. When she tells John while he was having a beer that she bought for him, he asks her to go ahead with her plans as he thinks that she was trying to bribe him with the beer to get him to agree to a divorce, while she actually wanted to express her love for him.

After leaving Regina at the airport, John gets a call from Regina, who tells him that she saw Surya at the emigration counter. John rushes off to meet Surya and tries to get him to accept Regina. Surya tells that he was forced to leave by his father and that he faked his suicide so that Regina would get over him. Surya lies to John saying that he is now happily married and tells John that one cannot always marry the girl he loves, but should always love the girl he marries. As leaves, Surya glances at the ring in his hand, which was gifted to him by Regina, showing that he will always live with the memories of their relationship and never marry another girl.

An angry Regina slaps John and tells that she never wanted to get back with Surya since. Regina throws the gift that John never opened. When John opens it, he finds the words "Let's begin our life" and John confesses his love, and Regina says 'Brother, I already have a boyfriend' - alluding to what Keerthana called him during their past love, meaning that Regina knows about his past. John and Regina realise their love for each other where they reunite and begin their new life together.

Critics have noted that the film draws similarities and inspirations from Mani Ratnam's Mouna Ragam[21][22] and the Kannada film Milana.[23][24]

The soundtrack album for Raja Rani was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar. The lyrics were penned by Na. Muthukumar, Pa. Vijay and Gaana Bala. The single "Hey Baby" was released on 19 August 2013.[25] The complete album was released on 23 August 2013 at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai.[26][27] The audio was released by actors Jiiva and Arya.

Behindwoods rated the album 3.25 out of 5, and said "G.V strikes with lively & cheerful melodies. A very pleasant album !"[29] IndiaGlitz rated it 2.5 out of 5 and said, "GV Prakash keeps his promise".[30] Cinemalead.com rated the album with 3.5 out of 5 stars and said the album is Innovative, Interesting and Intriguing[31]

A first official film teaser showing the lead pair quarrelling through their projections in a mirror, was released on 11 May 2013 by Fox Star Studios.[32] The teaser went instantly viral garnering a large number of views.[33] The film released in many theatres across the USA especially Towne 3 cinemas in San Jose. The film was a blockbuster.

The official trailer was released along with the music album in a very innovative manner on 23 August 2013.[34] The trailer was released on YouTube earlier in the day and was simultaneously telecast across 12 television channels at 7 PM.[35] The trailer received positive response.[36]

The scene where John (Arya) marries Regina (Nayanthara) is spoofed in Director's own Bigil. In the film, Angel (Nayanthara) refuses to marry John (Abi Saravanan) and instead falls for Michael (Vijay).[48]

• Raja Rani at IMDb