Dharma
Poster
Directed byKeyaar
Written byPrasannakumar (dialogues)
Screenplay byKeyaar
Story byRobin Henry
Based onZiddi (Hindi)
by Guddu Dhanoa
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

Dharma (transl. Righteousness) is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Keyaar. The film stars Vijayakanth and Preetha Vijayakumar. A remake of the 1997 Hindi film Ziddi, it was released on 9 July 1998.[1]

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 the climax of the original Hindi film took 90 days to shoot, Keyaar decided to reuse the bomb blast scenes from that film in the Tamil version, replacing Sunny Deol's portions with Vijayakanth thereby shooting the climax in three days.[2]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja,[3] with lyrics by Pulamaipithan and Vaasan.[4]

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

Ji of Kalki gave a negative review, saying that despite suiting Vijayakanth's image, the film lacks freshness.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Dharma / தர்மா". Screen 4 Screen. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "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]. Maalai Malar (in Tamil). 26 August 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Dharma (1995)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Dharma / Guru Parvai / Jolly". AVDigital. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. ↑ ஜி. (26 July 1985). "தர்மா". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 32. Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
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