Master Prabhakar, a popular child artist, made his way into Tamil cinema after impressing with his good looks, dialogue delivery and expressive face. In one of his most successful films, Vaa Raja Vaa that released in 1969, he played the lead role, and was supported by senior artists like V. S. Raghavan and his wife, Kumari Rukmini. Baby Sumathi played the role of his sister.
The story goes thus: Ten-year-old Raja (Master Prabhakar) works as a tourist guide in Mahabalipuram (or Mamallapuram). A senior sculptor (K. D. Santhanam) has a small rock sculpture tablet on which are engraved adages. Raja gets into a discussion with his guru, wondering if those pearls of wisdom still hold relevance. The sculptor tells him that those sayings are eternal and immortal. Raja sets out to find the truth for himself.
During the course of his adventure, he meets a number of people, including foreigners. Ultimately, he comes to understand that all those sayings are still valid.
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Master Prabhakar excels and outclasses even veterans like V. S. Raghavan, K. D. Santhanam, and Kumari Rukmini.
Suruli Rajan, as the friendly cop, and Sivathanu, along with Typist Gopu, take care of the comedy track. Manorama and Ennatha Kannaiya, playing a funny couple, chip in too.
Singer Sirgazhi Govindarajan plays a cameo and appears in quite a few scenes, as a police officer disguised as a sage. He also sang a couple of songs in the film.
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Music was by Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and lyrics by Arulmani, Poovai Senguttuvan, Ulundurpettai Shanmugham and the famous children’s writer, Azha Valliappa.
The singers were L. R. Easwari, Anjali, V. Sarala, M.R. Vijaya and R. Jayalakshmi.
This film was produced under CNV Productions, which belonged to filmmaker A. P. Nagarajan, who wrote and directed the film. W. R. Subba Rao was the cinematographer, while T. R. Nagarajan, another noteworthy technician in Tamil cinema, was in charge of editing.
The film ran for 100 days.
Remembered For: The brilliant performance by Master Prabhakar, and comedy by Suruli Rajan, Sivathanu and Typist Gopu.