Rani Theni

Rani Theni is a 1982 Tamil language film directed by G. N. Rangarajan, starring Kamal Haasan in an extended guest role. The film stars playback singer Deepan Chakravarthy, the son of Trichi Loganathan, a veteran playback singer in his first leading role. The female leads are played by Mahalakshmi / Shree and Vanitha Krishnachandran.

Kamal Haasan plays a comedy role with no connection with the main story and interacts only in one scene with the main villain Sivachandran, who plays the role of a playboy and Casanova; his character is killed by the heroine. The film was a remake of the Telugu film Kukka Katuku Cheppu Debba.

Plot
Sekhar who spends time by playing guitar and flirting with girls. Parvati is daughter of his neighbor. Sekhar flirts with a girl who repairs his guitar and teaches him how to play it. He also acts as if he loves Rukmini, who is daughter of Raghavaiah. Parvati hates Sekhar and his behavior and always tries to avoid him. Selvam and his family likes Parvati and fixes engagement with her family. Out of curiosity to meet Parvati, Selvam comes to her home on some reasons but unable to directly talk to her, writes a letter requesting her to come and meet him in backyard at night if she loves him, else he will break engagement. Parvati comes to meet him, where she is seduced. This continues for second night too, but Parvati is shocked when Selvam throws torch light on her and she finds herself in arms of Sekhar. Selvam is heart broken and leaves her.

Production
Rani Theni was produced and directed by G. N. Rangarajan. After the film was completed, many distributors refused to buy the film due to lack of star value. Kamal Haasan who learned of this suggested to Rangarajan that he will do a cameo which will appear throughout the film and completed his portions within three days. After shooting scenes with Haasan, Rangarajan was able to sell his film to distributors.

Soundtrack
Soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Release and reception
According to Rangarajan, though Rani Theni failed at the box office, he was able to recover the investment. Thiraignani of Kalki felt Mahalakshmi's acting and Deepan Chakarvarthy's characterisation could have been better but praised Charuhasan's acting and Viswanathan's cinematography and concluded saying half the story, the rest is Haasan.