What is "roja"

Roja Selvamani (born Sri Latha Reddy; 17 November 1972) is a South Indian actress and politician. She currently aligns with the YSR Congress party and won as MLA from Nagiri in 2014 general elections.

Roja is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language romantic war- thriller film co-written and directed by Mani Ratnam. It stars Arvind Swamy and Madhoo in the lead roles. The film was also 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 18th Moscow International Film Festival. The film was later 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 (1995) and Dil Se.. (1998).

The film's successful and acclaimed score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, who debuted as a film composer 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.

Roja is a Tamil word meaning "rose". It could also refer to:

• Roja, an award-winning Tamil film by director Mani Ratnam
• Roja (actress), a Tamil and Telugu film actress turned politician
• Roja, a settlement in Roja municipality, Latvia
• Roja Chamankar, an Iranian poet

Roja is the soundtrack album to the 1992 Tamil film of the same name, directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Aravind Swamy and Madhoo. Released on Lahari Music, it was the debut work of music composer A. R. Rahman, featuring originally lyrics by Vairamuthu. Roja is considered a milestone in Tamil and Indian film music that heralded the start of a new era. It was also listed in Time magazine's " 10 Best Soundtracks" of all time.