Roja (English: Rose) is a 1992 Tamil political drama, romance film directed by Mani Ratnam. The film was subsequently dubbed in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Telugu languages.

The film won three National Film Awards, including Best Film on National Integration, catapulting Ratnam to national acclaim. The film also gained international acclaim with its nomination for Best Film at the Moscow International Film Festival. The film was recently re-released for international audiences in light of the growing fear of terrorist attacks across the world. It is the first in Ratnam's trilogy of films that depict human relationships against a background of Indian politics, including Bombay and Dil Se...

The film's successful and acclaimed score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, who debuted in Tamil as a music director with this film. He won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction, Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Tamil and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director for his work in his debut film. This soundtrack is among the "10 Best Soundtracks" of all time listed by TIME magazine, issued in 2005.

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.

Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

Arvind Swami (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian film actor. He has acted in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. Popular movies to his credit include Roja, Bombay, Minsaara Kanavu, Indira, Devaraagam, Alaipayuthey. He had taken a break from films to concentrate on his business.

Arvind Swami was born on June 18, 1970 in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu to television actor Delhi Kumar. At an early age, he was adopted by his uncle, industrialist V. D. Swami. Arvind Swami studied in Sishya School and later in Don Bosco and completed his schooling in 1987. He then graduated from Loyola College, Chennai in 1990 in business. He went to the United States to do his Masters in International Business from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

He was introduced to the movie industry by Mani Ratnam through his Thalapathi. His first film, as lead hero, was Mani Ratnam's Roja. The movie became a hit throughout the country and Arvind Swami's impressive performance established his position as an actor. He was very selective about his roles. Though he has acted in only a few films, most of them went on to become blockbusters, highly rated by film critics. Roja and Bombay, both having a national integration theme won many awards at the State and National levels. Arvind has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films. He was also reviewed by Time Magazine and was appreciated by the magazine for his 'soulful' performance in the film Bombay.

Mani Ratnam (born Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam on 2 June 1956) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema, based in Chennai, India. Born into a Tamil Brahmin family in Madurai, Ratnam worked as a management consultant before entering into the film industry. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi in 1983, and followed this with the Malayalam film Unaru (1984) and the Tamil film Pagal Nilavu (1985). Ratnam came into prominence after Mouna Ragam (1986), a film about the friction between a newly–wed couple. He made his Telugu debut with the National Film Award winning Geethanjali (1989), which was critically acclaimed and a major commercial success. Ratnam is also known for his "Terrorism trilogy" consisting of Roja (1992), Bombay (1995) and Dil Se.. (1998). He is widely regarded as one of the leading directors in Indian cinema. Ratnam is widely credited with having revolutionised the Tamil film industry and altering the profile of Indian cinema.

Roja Ramani (Telugu: రోజా రమణి, born 1959) is a South Indian movie actress who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. She was a child star in her debut movie Bhakta Prahlada (1967), and was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s. She has acted in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam movies. She acted under the screen name Shobana in Malayalam, but later dropped it.

When she was five years old, she begged her parents to allow her to act in films. Ramani's first movie was Bhakta Prahlada in 1967, where she played a boy. Ramani said her title role in Bhakta Prahlada and leading roles in Chambarati (Malayalam original for Kanne Vayasu) and O Seeta Katha stand out the most and earned her awards and recognition.

She worked in movies like Paruva Kaalam in Tamil with Kamal Haasan and Kanya Vaiyasulu in Telugu. She has done about 25 films in Malayalam.