Dharma (1998 film)

Dharma is a 1998 Tamil-language action film directed by Keyaar. The film stars Vijayakanth and Preetha Vijayakumar. It was released on 9 July 1998. It was moderately successful at the box office. The film is a remake of the Hindi film Ziddi.[1][2]

Dharma
Directed byKeyaar
Written byPrasannakumar (dialogues)
Screenplay byKeyaar
Story byRobin Henry
Based onZiddi (1997 hindi film)
Produced byA. S. Ibrahim Rowther (presenter)
A. Abbas Rowther
Starring
CinematographyRajarajan
Edited byR. T. Annadurai
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Production
company
Rowther Films
Release date
  • 9 July 1998 (1998-07-09)
Running time
160 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

Plot

Dharma (Vijayakanth) lives with his lawyer father (Jaishankar), mother (Vadivukkarasi), journalist brother Vijay (Thalaivasal Vijay), and beloved sister Geetha (Shilpa). Later, Dharma and Sharmila (Preetha Vijayakumar) fall in love with each other. Dharma is an angry man who cannot tolerate injustice. One day, his sister is molested by the rowdy Raja, and Dharma kills him in public. Thus, he is sent to jail. In the meantime, his friend Ranjith (Ranjith) becomes an ACP.

Upon his release from jail, Dharma becomes a powerful gangster who punishes the rowdies in his own way and helps the poor. The honest chief minister (S. S. Rajendran) then gives free hand to arrest all the goons including Dharma. Geetha then marries Ranjith.

The drug smuggler Daas (Mansoor Ali Khan), the notorious killer Khan (Ponnambalam), and the land grabber Amarnath (Kazan Khan) work under a corrupted politician Chakravarthy (Vinu Chakravarthy). They decide to kill the current Chief Minister, but Vijay has listened to their plan and immediately informs Ranjith. Surprisingly, Ranjith kills Vijay from behind. In fact, Ranjith is Raja's brother (the man who was killed by Dharma) and wants to take revenge on Dharma.

Later, the Chief Minister is severely injured by the rowdies, but Dharma saves him and hides him in a secured place. Meanwhile, Geetha finds out that Vijay was killed by Ranjith, and Ranjith also kills her.

The police department seeks Dharma for kidnapping the Chief Minister. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

Production

Since climax of original Hindi film took 90 days to shoot, KR decided to add the bomb blast scenes from Hindi film Ziddi in the Tamil version replacing Sunny Deol with Vijayakanth thereby shooting the climax in 3 days.[3]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja,[4] with lyrics by Pulamaipithan and Vaasan. The soundtrack was well received.[5]

SongSinger(s)LyricsDuration
"Dharmangal"S. P. BalasubrahmanyamVaasan5:00
"Iru Kanngal" (Happy)Ilaiyaraaja1:09
"Iru Kanngal" (Sad)Ilaiyaraaja1:06
"Iru Kanngal" (Happy)S. P. Balasubrahmanyam5:04
"Iru Kanngal" (Sad)S. P. Balasubrahmanyam5:00
"Manakkum"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, SujathaPulamaipithan5:01
"Sembaruthi"S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha5:02
"Thinam"S. P. BalasubrahmanyamVaasan1:19

Reception

G of Kalki gave a negative review citing despite suiting Vijayakanth's image, the film lacks freshness.[6]

References
  1. "Dharma". OneIndia. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  2. "Dharma (1998) Tamil Movie". en.600024.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. "விஜயகாந்த் நடித்த 'தர்மா' 90 நாட்களில் எடுக்க வேண்டிய 'கிளைமாக்ஸ்' 3 நாட்களில் எடுத்து முடித்து சாதனை" [Climax of Vijayakanth starrer 'Dharma' initially planned to shoot in 90 days but completed in 3 days]. Maalaimalar. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  4. "Dharma Songs". Raaga.com. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. "Music Review of Dharma". indolink.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 1999. Retrieved 3 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ஜி (26 July 1985). "தர்மா". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 32.
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