Betting Raja Trivia: 25 Facts You Didn't Know About Racha
Our favourite fact: Racha was the first Telugu film shot in the forests of interior China. A song and a fight were filmed in a bamboo forest in Anji County, Zhejiang, in November 2011.
The Title and the Story
- Racha means "chaos" or "uproar" in Telugu, which is what the hero causes for his family's killers.
- The title is reportedly a hidden name. "Ra" comes from Ram and "cha" from Charan.
- The Hindi title is a pun. In the dub the hero is called Raja, and he never loses a bet, so he's literally the "betting king".
- The heroine is the real planner. Chaitra (Madhavi in Hindi) secretly set up the bet that starts the film. Tamannaah hinted before release that her character's layers would be revealed slowly.
- The villain is named after a real mining district. In Telugu, Mukesh Rishi's character is called Bellary, the Karnataka district at the centre of illegal iron-ore mining scandals at the time.
Production
- It started as a different film. The producers first made Merupu, directed by Dharani with Kajal Aggarwal. It had no full script and was shelved after one schedule.
- Racha was only Sampath Nandi's second film, after Yemaindi Ee Vela (2010).
- It was launched on 12 June 2011 at Ramanaidu Studios, Hyderabad.
- Filming ended just four days before release, on 1 April 2012.
- Ram Charan trained for about 45 days at David Barton's gym and went abroad for a full makeover for the role.
- He was hurt in his very first scene. The cables holding a train failed during his introduction shot, and he had to jump out of a car on the tracks.
- A leg injury delayed the release from March to 5 April 2012.
- Forest officials stopped the shoot in Kerala. At Periyar National Park, they insisted the stars wear life jackets on a boat.
- Ajmal Ameer couldn't dub his own voice because he was shooting a Tamil film in France.
- Two Tamil stars made their Telugu debuts: Ajmal Ameer and R. Parthiban.
Music
- Father's song, son's dance. "Vaana Vaana Velluvaye" is a remix of Chiranjeevi's rain song from Gang Leader (1991), performed by his son Ram Charan.
- The audio rights sold for about ₹1 crore, one of the highest prices for a Telugu album at the time.
- The audio launch moved city. It was planned for Kurnool but moved to Hyderabad because of student exams, and was held on Maha Shivaratri, 20 February 2012.
- The film's only Filmfare win was for a dance. Jani Master won Best Choreography for "Dillaku Dillaku".
- Lisa Haydon appears in the title song, shot at Hyderabad's Buddha Statue.
After the Release
- It set a day-one record of ₹8.54 crore in AP/Nizam, with about 90% occupancy.
- The climax axe was auctioned for charity. The Movie Artist Association sold Ram Charan's special axe, and the money went to educating poor children in the Telugu film industry.
- It was remade in Bangladesh as Honeymoon, starring Bappy Chowdhury and Mahiya Mahi.
- Brahmanandam spoofed it in Mahesh Babu's Aagadu (2014), along with Legend and Race Gurram.
- It has four language versions: Racha (Telugu), Ragalai (Tamil), Raksha (Malayalam) and Betting Raja (Hindi).