Saroja (stylised as Sa-Ro-Ja) is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language comedy thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu and produced by T. Siva. It stars Shiva, Vaibhav, Premji, S. P. Charan and Vega Tamotia as the title character, while Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Sampath Raj, Nikita Thukral, Bose Venkat and Kajal Aggarwal play other vital roles. Several other popular Tamil television artists and crew members make special appearances throughout the film. The score and soundtrack were composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja with cinematography by Sakthi Saravanan.
The film follows the journey of four young men who travel from Chennai to Hyderabad to watch a cricket match. Due to a road accident, they are forced to take a diversion off the main road to arrive on time. This leads them to a gang who have kidnapped a schoolgirl, Saroja, the only daughter of a millionaire.
The film was released on 5 September 2008 to very positive reviews and critical acclaim, while also emerging a high commercial success. It was dubbed and partially reshot in Telugu with Srihari reprising Jayaram's role. This film was based on Judgement Night
Plot
Ajay Raj, Ganesh Kumar, and brothers Ram Babu and Jagapathi Babu are close friends who spend a lot of time together in Chennai. Ajay is a television actor, Ganesh is a fun-loving engineering student who falls in love with every woman he sees, Jagapathi is an engineer who is married and has a six-year-old daughter, and Ram is Jagapathi's younger brother who lives with him. Ram is in love with Pooja, but before he has a chance to tell her, Pooja tells Ram that she is in love with Ajay. Pooja and Ajay eventually get engaged, leaving Ram heartbroken. He soon forgets his grief and has a good time with Ajay, Ganesh, and Jagapathi. One day, the four friends decide to go in Ajay's old ramshackle Volkswagen Samba to Hyderabad to watch a cricket match.
Vishwanath is a business tycoon in Hyderabad who has no time for his wife and teenage daughter Saroja. One day, Saroja is kidnapped, and the police enter the scene, with Vishwanath's friend ACP Ravichandran handling the case.
Meanwhile, a huge tanker lorry carrying highly inflammable and dangerous chemicals overturns on the National Highway between Chennai and Hyderabad and the four friends are stuck in a massive traffic jam. They attempt to take a shortcut to Hyderabad, but they end up in a dark, desolate area where their real troubles begin.
After arguing about which direction to take at a crossroad, Ajay convinces the others to drive into a forest, receiving instructions from Venkat Prabhu in a cameo appearance. As they proceed further, an injured man named R. Venkatraman suddenly falls on their car from above. Wanting to save Venkatraman, Jagapathi asks Ganesh and Ram to ask for help in a nearby building. Ajay, horrified by Venkatraman's bullet wounds, is even more shocked when he urges Jagapathi and Ajay to escape. Jagapathi, however, attempts to save Venkatraman, who repeatedly urges them to leave quickly.
A few men arrive in a jeep and shoot at them from a distance. Ajay rushes to the driver's seat and attempts to flee from the area. Their van gets hit by the other vehicle and is overturned, throwing Venkatraman outside. Ajay and Jagapathi remain inside the van. Sampath Kumar, the leader of the gang in the black jeep, steps out of his vehicle and shoots Venkatraman after a short conversation. Sampath then discovers that two men (Jagapathi and Ajay) had attempted to save the injured man; he orders his henchmen to kill them. Upon hearing Sampath's order, Ajay and Jagapathi run for their lives.
Meanwhile, Ganesh and Ram have entered an abandoned factory in search of help. Finding the place empty, they walk out and wander around for some time. They soon reach the place where the van had overturned and realize that their friends are missing. At the same time, Ajay and Jagapathi are trapped inside a room within close range of one of the hitmen and escape narrowly. Ganesh and Ram continue to search the area for their friends and eventually find them after fighting with a few hitmen. Realizing that they are caught in a dangerous situation, all four run away from the factory toward the distant sound of a train. They barely manage to board the last car. Jagapathi does not board the train; he sees that his pocket has been torn, and he deduces that his wallet had fallen somewhere inside the factory. Ajay and Ram frantically attempt to convince Jagapathi to board the train. Jagapathi fears that the assassins might cause problems for his wife and child, since his wallet (containing his identity) might be in the hands of the gangsters. Thus, all four friends return to the factory to recover the lost wallet.