''Dharani'' ( en, World, Earth) is a 2015

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

film written and directed by Guhan Sambandham and produced by V.G.S Narendran under the banner of Melody Movies. The film has an ensemble cast, which includes

Aari Arujunan Aari Arujunan, known by the mononym Aari, is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He made his lead debut in '' Rettaisuzhi'' (2010) produced by director Shankar, before having a breakthrough performance as Murugan in '' N ...

, Ajay Krishna,

Elango Kumaravel Elango Kumaravel (born 27 August 1965) is an Indian theatre actor and writer. He is also a co-founder of the Chennai based theatre group "Magic Lantern". He is an alumnus of Pondicherry University's Sankaradas Swamigal School of Performing Art ...

Sandra Amy Sandra Amy is an Indian film and television actress and a video jockey. Career Amy was born in Idukki. After appearing in supporting role in the Malayalam film ''Kasthooriman''. Amy acted in Tamil films ''Poraali'', ''Sivappu Enaku Pudikkum' ...

. R. Prakash and Vinoth Gandhi jointly handled the cinematography, while Ensone scored the music for this film. The film which began production in 2009, released across Tamil Nadu on 30 January 2015.

Plot

The plot is set in a rural backdrop where three middle-class characters running a hotel come across three different circumstances facing three important life decisions that are going to change their lives forever. The film charts the path taken by them to achieve their goal and details how they traverse through to nowhere.

Cast

as Sekhar *

as Mahesh *

as Thilaka * Ajay Krishna as Kathiresan * Anjathe Sridhar * Jeyakumar * Varnika

Production

The writer gained inspiration to make the film after reading Robert Frost's poem,

The Road Not Taken "The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', and later published as the first poem in the collection '' Mountain Interval'' of 1916. Its central theme is th ...

signed on to appear in the project in 2009, the first feature film he had signed, but delays meant production only began in the middle 2010. The film progressed slowly through production since 2010, and readied for a release, nearly five years after production began. Following the success of ''

Nedunchaalai ''Nedunchalai'' ( Highway) is a 2014 Tamil language thriller film written and directed by N. Krishna and produced by Aaju, C. Soundarajan and Dheeraj Kher. This film features Aari Arujunan and Sshivada in the lead roles, with Thambi Ramiah and ...

'' (2014), production restarted and Aari agreed to spare dates to help complete the film by late 2014.

Music

B. Ensone, who earlier worked as a conductor for various music directors of Tamil film industry has made his debut as music director with this film and composed the film's soundtrack album and background score. The album consists of 6 songs with one theme music instrumental track all composed by Ensone. Kavingar Muthulingam,

Palani Bharathi Palani Bharathi is an Indian writer and lyricist who works in Tamil cinema. Early life Palani Bharathi was born in Karaikudi to Sami Palaniappan, a poet, and Kamala. He has a brother and four sisters. Palaniappan was an assistant of orator/w ...

, and Pulavar S.M, Tiruvenkadam penned the lyrics for the songs. Another highlight of the album is two koothu songs were sung by

Veeramanidasan Veeramani Daasan is an Indian singer of devotional songs A devotional song is a hymn that accompanies religious observances and rituals. Traditionally devotional music has been a part of Hindu music, Jewish music, Buddhist music, Islamic mu ...

and Pushpavanam Kuppusamy. The soundtrack album was released on 19 December 2014 in the presence of

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor ...

Mysskin Shanmugha Raja, known professionally as Mysskin, is an Tamil film director, screenwriter, actor, singer, and producer. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with ''Chithiram Pesuthadi''. His subsequent films ''Anjathe'' (2008), ''Nandalala'' ( ...

, and

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. Also worked in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. His first film as mu ...

Review

The film, Dharani received mixed reviews. It is a movie without dance numbers. The songs that appear are contextual. Reviewing for Times Of India, M Suganth gave 2.5 * and said that the first half was bleak and unforgiving... the first half makes us empathize with the three lead characters"... especially "Ajaykrishna’s pitiable state in the first half makes us empathize with his character" . "Despite the sincere storytelling, Dharani feels clichéd as the plight of the leads seem all-too familiar", however, "... the actors make us care for these characters".

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Film, India 2015 drama films 2015 films 2010s Tamil-language films Indian drama films