''Dhanam'' ( ta, தனம்) is a 2008 Tamil-language drama film written and directed by G. Shiva. The film stars Sangeetha,

Kota Srinivasa Rao Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. As a former politician, Rao has s ...

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1962) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received t ...

and

Manobala Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films. He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's referen ...

. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Ilayaraja. The film is the last project Sangeetha completed before her marriage.

Plot

The film opens with a cop (

) and his assistant (

) searching for a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

named Dhanam ( Sangeetha) in the streets of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. While they ask the public around the streets about Dhanam a flashback breaks out. The story goes five years back from the present day. Ananth (Prem), a young student from a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Brahmin family based in Kumbakudam comes to Hyderabad to study post graduate medicine. There he meets Dhanam. He falls in love with her and begins to follow her for several days. She suspects that Ananth came to her to do business and takes him to her place. They both have sex for money and this begins to happen frequently. One day Ananth opens up his feelings to her, but she refuses his propose, let the public in the street beat him up and walks away. Dhanam's close friends tell her to stop living as a prostitute and start over her life by live with Ananth. They both meet at a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and have an argument. Dhanam finally comes with a decision that if Ananth's family accept her she will marry him. The next day they both go to Kumbakudam to visit Ananth's family. After hearing that Dhanam is a prostitute and that Ananth wants to marry her, his family refuse to accept the marriage. A priest named Vedhagiri (

Rao __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IAT ...

) who is a good family friend of Ananth's family forces them to accept the marriage by telling them that the horoscopes match. The family immediately go to Hyderabad and arrange everything for the marriage. They both get married the next day. This is a trap by Vedhagiri. Vedhagiri who had earlier asked Dhanam in Hyderabad to have sex for money uses this situation to get closer to Dhanam, but she tells him to stay away. Some days later, Ananth and his family ask her why she began with prostitution. She says that her mother used to be a prostitute. Dhanam was the only child for her. Her mother wanted her to not follow her tracks and kept her as virgin. One day when her mother was very ill, a man fooled Dhanam by saying that he will take her to the hospital so that they can bring the doctor home, but raped her on the way. She began to have sex for money to save her sick mother, but unfortunately her mother died some days later. Since Dhanam was too young and she did not have anyone to take care of her, she began with prostitution and settled down in Gandhi Theru. After hearing this Ananth and his family could understand her pain and ask for apology for not understanding her earlier. The next day Dhanam gets pregnant. During her pregnancy Vedhagiri tries to make a deal with Dhanam, but she refuses again. This begins to happen often. Dhanam keeps this secretly from her husband and in-laws because they have a lot of respect for him. Dhanam later gives birth to a baby girl. After the birth, the family begins to go through a hard time. They ask Vedhagiri to check the horoscope and find out why this happens. Vedhagiri says that the time the baby was born was not good. He says that the baby has to die or everyone in the family will die within a year. The family keep this secret for Dhanam and kill the baby by feed it with poison. Some days after the death of her child, Dhanam finds out that her in-laws were behind of the murder. Dhanam who saw her daughter as her mother, becomes stressed and Grieves over her dead baby. The flashback ends with that Dhanam killing her husband, her in-laws and Vedhagiri by give them food with poison. The cop and his assistant go to the cop and the judge who closed the case of the murder of Dhanam's husband, her in-laws and the priest and have a conversation about the case. The cop and the assistant asked the cop and the judge about their opinion. They both said that Dhanam is innocent. She just showed the anger a mom has. The film ends with that the cop and the assistant close the case and let Dhanam go.

Cast

* Sangeetha as Dhanam * Prem as Ananthu * Sashikumar Subramani as Kothandam *

as Vedhagiri *

as Cop *

as Cop * Girish Karnad as Ananth's father *

Ilavarasu Ilavarasu is an Indian cinematographer and actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. He started his career as a cinematographer and worked for 13 films, winning a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for one of them. He, however, became better known ...

as Dhanam's friend * Karunas as Ananth's uncle *

Rajyalakshmi Rajyalakshmi Chandu, better known by her stage name Sankarabharanam Rajyalakshmi (born 18 December 1964) is an Indian actress. She was a prominent lead actress during the 1980s in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She was well noted fo ...

as Ananth's mother *

Singamuthu Singamuthu (born 8 December 1958) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films as a comedian. Career Singamuthu has primarily appeared in comedy roles in films as a supporting actor debuting in ''Neram Nalla Irukku'' (1987). He ...

M. S. Bhaskar Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar (born 13 September 1957) is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films. Before entering the film industry, he was a theatre artist, he made his film debut in 1987 in a small role in the film ''Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi' ...

* Chinni Jayanth *

Crane Manohar Crane Manohar (born 4 October 1965) is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films, mostly in comedy roles. He appeared in many Vadivelu and Vivek comedy tracks. Career Manohar initially worked as a crane technician for films and when he start ...

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as Shop owner *

Kovai Senthil Kumarasamy, known by his stage name, Kovai Senthil, was a Tamil film character artist who appeared in Tamil films starting with Bhagyaraj's ''Oru Kai Osai''. He appeared in over 400 Tamil films. Career During his career, Kovai Senthil made ...

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E. Ramdoss E. Ramdoss (died 23 January 2023) was an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who worked on Tamil films. Life and career Ramdoss was born in Villupuram to freedom fighter Ethirajalu Pillai and Poongavanam. As a youngster, he regularl ...

Soundtrack

The album includes seven songs composed by Ilayaraja. The lyrics were provided by Vaali, Muthulingam, Mu. Metha, Pazhani Bharathi and Vishali Kannadasan.

Reception

''Dhanam'' received mixed reviews, largely praising Sangeetha's performance. Indiaglitz said "''Dhanam'' is a bold venture that is certainly a whiff of air from the rest of conventional commercial masala movies". Behindwoods rated the film 1.5 stars out of 5, saying "''Dhanam'' is a movie which does not fulfill the scope of its theme. Also, the subject will be seen by some groups as controversial. This, coupled with a pretty narrow cross section of the audience who will accept such bold themes, stacks the odds against ''Dhanam''". Sify wrote:"Shiva is bold to take such a subject, but his handling, slow pace and too many songs makes Dhanam excruciatingly laboured, the film is dark and depressing". Rediff wrote:"Altogether a washed out product that passes itself off as a 'serious' film, but instead takes the viewer for a disappointing ride".

References

{{reflist 2008 films Indian drama films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja 2000s Tamil-language films Films about prostitution in India 2008 directorial debut films