Raja (1999)

This family-oriented romantic drama revolves around Raja, a good man who was forced by circumstances to become a petty criminal. Along with his friend Balu, he steals an idol of Lord Ganesha from a temple. On the run from the police, they hide in a private house. To their horror, they get locked up in the kitchen by a young woman, Anjali, who has been left in charge of the house and three young children, while the rest of the family are out on a trip.

Despite all their attempts at freedom, Anjali keeps them locked up for a week and within that period she has such a deep impact on Raja, that he decides to leave behind his criminal lifestyle and begin leading a respectful and peaceful life as a law-abiding citizen.

Raja never expresses his love for Anjali, but when he finds out about her personal diary that Balu has lifted from her, he begins learning about her story. Anjali is the illegitimate daughter of Lawyer Viswanath (Chandramohan) whose house she is living in as a maidservant, along with her stepmother Bhagyalakshmi (Y.Vijaya), her sister (Sana), sister's husband (Tanikella Bharani) and their 3 children, without the rest of the family's knowledge of her relationship with Vishwanath.

Bhagyalakshmi's brother, Sanjay (Abbas) comes from Canada and Anjali develops a soft-corner for him. Viswanath approves of the match and approaches Sanjay for their marriage, but Sanjay states that he would require at least three months to decide. When Raja goes to Anjali's home in order to return the diary, a terrible conflict arises due to a missing necklace for which Anjali is blamed and thrown out of the house.

Raja takes responsibility for Anjali's care and works day and night to help her become a successful singer. When Anjali reaches the peak of success, her father finally decides to reveal the truth of her paternity to his family. Sanjay also agrees to marry her. Raja is slowly sidelined and even demeaned and humiliated by Anjali's extended family.

After returning from a performance tour abroad, Anjali learns that Raja and Balu have left the house and finds out why through his diary. It is then that she realises the extent of Raja's love and the immensity of the sacrifice he has made for her.

At this critical juncture, Anjali is bestowed with a national award and during the felicitation ceremony, she publicly dedicates her success to Raja and expresses the desire to marry him. How will her family and Sanjay react to her decision?