Dhool

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Dhool
Poster
Directed byDharani
Screenplay byDharani
Dialogues by
Story byDharani
Produced byA. M. Rathnam
StarringVikram
Jyothika
Reema Sen
CinematographyS. Gopinath
Edited byV. T. Vijayan
Music byVidyasagar
Production
company
Sri Surya Movies
Release date
  • 10 January 2003 (2003-01-10)
Running time
172 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Budget7 crore[1]
Box officeest. 12–13 crore[1]

Dhool (transl. Fantastic) is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by Dharani. The film stars Vikram, Jyothika and Reema Sen in the lead roles. Vivek, Sayaji Shinde, Telangana Shakuntala, and Pasupathy, among others, play important roles. Produced by A. M. Rathnam at a cost of 7 crore,[1] the film was released on 10 January 2003. It received positive reviews and was a commercial success. Dhool was remade in Telugu as Veede (2003), and in Sinhala as Ranja (2014).

Plot[edit]

Arumugam is kind-hearted man whose village is suffering due to a chemical factory which releases toxic wastes into the river. The villagers decide to give a petition to Minister Kaalaipandi, requesting him to close the factory. Arumugam and his childhood friend Eswari, along with her grandmother Mundakanni, leave to Chennai to meet Kaalaipandi, who has won from the village's constituency. The three reach Chennai and stay with Narayanasamy alias Narain, who also belongs to the same village, but is settled in Chennai. Swapna is a fashion model who also lives near Narain's home and gets attracted towards Arumugam, whereas Narain loves her. Arumugam meets Kaalaipandi amidst a heavy crowd and conveys the problems faced by their villagers due to water pollution. Kaalaipandi assures that he will take swift action.

Meanwhile, Sornakka and her brother Aadhi are local goons who are involved in many illegal activities with Kaalaipandi supporting them behind. One day, Eswari accidentally collides with Aadhi, following which he tries to hit her, but is saved by Arumugam. In the ensuing scuffle, Arumugam fractures Aadhi's hands. Sornakka and Aadhi set an eye on Arumugam and decide to trouble him. Along with Kaalaipandi's help, Sornakka and Aadhi kidnap Arumugam and injure him badly. Kaalaipandi also informs that he will never take any action against the chemical factory in his village. Swapna rescues and treats Arumugam. Arumugam discloses Kaalaipandi's true face and the culprits behind him to Eswari and Mundakanni. Arumugam decides to take revenge on Kaalaipandi and tarnish his image among the public. Arumugam uses Kaalaipandi's memopad and forges a letter praising an adult film and requesting it to be published in a daily newspaper.

The newspaper editor believes it and publishes it the next day. This brings agitation among political parties and people demand resignation from Kaalaipandi. Sornakka decides to kidnap Eswari and kill Arumugam, but Arumugam thrashes Sornakka's men and saves Eswari. While trying to escape, Sornakka dies in an accident. Kaalaipandi decides to bring back his lost image by staging a fast until death event, which will bring sympathy among citizens. Arumugam mixes his village's dirty water into the drink served to break the fast, where Kaalaipandi discloses about the water on the media. Fearing his position will be removed, Kaalaipandi attempts to kill the CM in hospital while putting the blame on Arumugam. Arumugam is arrested on a false case. When Kaalaipandi once again tries his luck to kill the CM, Arumugam uses his skills and gets Kaalaipandi killed on the hands of police officers (who were aiming for Arumugam). The CM exposes Kaalaipandi, while Arumugam and the villagers celebrate as the CM took action to close the chemical factory.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

After the success of their 2001 collaboration Dhill, Dharani and Vikram announced in February 2002 that they were to come together again for a project titled Dhool.[2][3] The lead role had originally been offered to Vijay, who declined.[4] The song "Aasai Aasai" was partially shot in Denmark, and plans had been earlier made to shoot song sequences in London, though the team later opted against doing so.[5] A huge set of a temple, a church, some houses and a shopping area, was erected at the Indian Express office premises.[6]

Soundtrack[edit]

The music was composed by Vidyasagar.[7] A part of the song "Karimizhi Kuruviye" from the 2002 Malayalam film Meesa Madhavan was reused in "Aasai Aasai",[citation needed] which was later reused as "Rafta Rafta" with a slight change in tune in the 2004 Hindi film Hulchul, another film where the music was composed by Vidyasagar.[8] The music of "Ithanundu Muthathile" and "Koduva Meesai" were used for two songs in Telugu film Naaga, another film that Vidyasagar composed the music for.[9]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Ithanundu Muthathile"Pa. VijayUdit Narayan, Sowmya Raoh, Premgi Amaren4:28
2."Madurai Veeran"ArivumathiParavai Muniyamma3:21
3."Koduvaa Meesai"Na. MuthukumarManikka Vinayagam, Vidhu Prabhakar4:45
4."Aasai Aasai"KabilanShankar Mahadevan, Sujatha Mohan5:21
5."Inthadi"Pa. VijayTippu, Kalyan, Rafi4:03
6."Kundu Kundu"ArivumathiKK, Sunidhi Chauhan, Pop Shalini4:55
Total length:26:53

Release and reception[edit]

Upon release in January 2003, the film was financially successful, despite opening alongside other prominent ventures such as the Kamal Haasan-Madhavan starrer Anbe Sivam and Vijay's Vaseegara.[10] Aarkhay of Rediff.com review praised Vikram's enactment citing that "Vikram is at his peak" and that "he seems as much at home with comedy as with action, in romance as in emotional sequences".[11] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu said, "Vikram's brain-brawn combo does help sustain the tempo. It's only that there's nothing new that "Dhool" offers. But as long as the till keeps ringing, little else matters, you suppose".[12] Sify wrote, "Vikram's Dhool is a typical omnibus masala concoction serving all the nine rasas that go into a typical pot-boiler meant for the front-benchers. The verdict right away is not bad, if you are the type who love unadulterated kichidi entertainers. Still it could have been a whole lot better, if the climax hadn't gone irrevocably loony".[13] Visual Dasan of Kalki called the film a same old commercial film which entertains citing dosa served as pizza while praising the performances of all star cast and concluded saying Dharani, the director who has given importance to the message of giving pizza to be baked in a bullet train that is moving at a stormy speed, like ginger juice for digestion, can now be called an action director.[14] The film became a major success and cemented Vikram's status as a matinée idol in Tamil Nadu.[15]

Remakes[edit]

Dhool was remade in Telugu as Veede (2003), with Reemma Sen reprising her role,[16] and in Sinhala as Ranja (2014).[17][better source needed] A Hindi remake was planned by Guddu Dhanoa in 2004 with Sunny Deol and Gracy Singh starring, but did not materialise.[18][19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Pillai, Sreedhar (29 December 2003). "Reel of fortune". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 May 2004. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. ^ Tulika (29 April 2002). "Dharani-Vikram for another film". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Dhil to Dhool". The Hindu. 1 February 2002. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Vijay regrets missing out ..." Behindwoods. 9 November 2012. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Raising expectations". The Hindu. 9 August 2002. Archived from the original on 8 September 2003. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Dhool". cinematoday3.itgo.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Dhool (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Apple Music. 12 November 2002. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  8. ^ Jose, Mahima (9 November 2020). "9 Times Music Composers Invoked Déjà Vu In Us". PinkLungi. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Naaga Audio function". Idlebrain.com. 22 December 2002. Archived from the original on 20 December 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  10. ^ "New maths for the box office". The Hindu. 22 January 2003. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
  11. ^ Aarkhay (23 January 2003). "Vikram turns up trumps with Dhool". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  12. ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (24 January 2003). "Dhool". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 July 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  13. ^ "Dhool". Sify. Archived from the original on 29 December 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  14. ^ தாசன், விஷுவல் (2 February 2003). "தூள்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 33. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ "track record". The Hindu. 6 November 2011. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  16. ^ Kumar, G. Manjula (2 November 2003). "Watchable remake". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Ranja review". sandeshaya.org. Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  18. ^ "'Dhool' to be remade in Hindi". Sify. 21 April 2004. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  19. ^ "Gracy Singh in Dhool". Sify. 11 August 2004. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2014.

External links[edit]