''Dharma Prabhu'' is a 2019 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by Muthukumaran.

Yogi Babu Yogi Babu (born 22 July 1985) is an Indian actor and comedian, who appears in Tamil films. A three time Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award winner, he performed in '' Aandavan Kattalai'' (2016), ''Kolamavu Kokila'' (2018) and ''Pariyerum Perumal'' (20 ...

plays the lead role in the film, and supporting roles are done by

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi (born 29 July 1952) is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brother of Raadhika. He is a ...

, Sam Jones,

Ramesh Thilak Ramesh Thilak is an Indian radio jockey and actor who has appeared in Tamil films. He made his breakthrough with Nalan Kumarasamy's ''Soodhu Kavvum'' (2013) portraying a kidnapper, before playing a similar role of a thief in Alphonse Putharen's ...

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

and

Rajendran A. Rajendran,(born 1 June 1957) credited as Motta Rajendran or ''Naan Kadavul'' Rajendran, is an Indian stunt double and actor working mainly in Tamil cinema. He debuted in 2003 with the Tamil film '' Pithamagan'' and has worked as a stunt doub ...

among others.

Justin Prabhakaran Justin Prabhakaran (born 10 June 1986) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music mostly for Tamil films and also a few Malayalam and Telugu films besides one Hindi film. He made his debut as a film composer in the 2014 ...

composed the music for the film, editing was done by San Lokesh, and cinematography was by Mahesh Muthuswamy.

Plot

The God of death, the senior Yama (

), retires so that his son (

) has become the immediate successor. Yamaloga's

Chitragupta Chitragupta (Sanskrit: चित्रगुप्त, 'rich in secrets' or 'hidden picture') is a Hindu deity assigned with the task of keeping complete records of the actions of human beings and punishing or rewarding them according to their ...

(

) is enraged with the decision of Yama. He cunningly plans to dethrone Yama Jr. who has just become the king of their world. Chitragupta's plan works when Yama Jr. visits the earth and saves the life of an innocent child along with a deadly politician (

Azhagam Perumal Azhagam Perumal is an Indian film director and actor. Career Azhagam Perumal hails from the village of Kulasekharapuram in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. All his family members were working in the government service and his parents wanted h ...

). Now, Lord

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

(

) orders Yama Jr. to kill the politician in a week and rectify all the mistakes. Can the fun-loving Yama rectify his mistakes?

Cast

as Dharma Prabhu *

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

n * Sam Jones as Bala *

as Ayyo *

Meghna Naidu Meghna Naidu (born 19 September 1980) is an Indian actress who primarily starred in Hindi films. She has also appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali films. Biography Meghna Naidu is an Indian actress and dancer. He ...

cameo appearance *

as Kumaradasan the Politician *

Bose Venkat Bose Venkat is an Indian actor, director and dubbing artist who appears in Tamil films and television serials. Personal life Venkat is married to actress Sonia in 2003. The couple have a son Tejaswin and a daughter Bavadarani Career Venkat c ...

as Minister *

Bosskey Bosskey is an Indian actor, Radio Jockey, Cricketer, Television anchor,Ashvin Raja Ashvin Raja is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He is the son of film producer Late V. Swaminathan of Lakshmi Movie Makers. Personal life Ashvin Raja is the son of producer Swaminathan, who owns the production house, ...

as Cameo appearance *

Janani Iyer Janani (formerly known as Janani Iyer) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil and Malayalam movies. She made her cinematic debut with the Tamil feature film ''Avan Ivan'' (2011). Her notable films including ''Thegidi'' (2014) ...

as Vaishnavi, Politician Kumaradasan's daughter

Production

This film shooting was held in a fictional place due to the cast and the story. Yaman stays in place called Yamaloka, so the art works were done mostly in a fictional way. The first look poster of Dharmaprabhu was released on 2 November, where Yogi Babu stands as Yaman with the weapon Gada. The film shooting was a short time of period and the movie features was released soon. The film was shot in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and the songs were composed abroad. One of the first look poster reminds one of

Thambi Ramiah Thambi Ramaiah is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also worked occasionally as a lyricist. He directed three films, '' Manu Needhi'' (2000), '' Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan'' (2008) and '' Man ...

’s directorial film Indiralohathil Na Azhagappan.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by Justin Prabhakaran. *"Oorar Unna" - Tm Selvakumar *"Usurula Ethayo" - Yogi Sekar, Aishwarya Ravichandran *"Katta Karuppa" - Acs Ravichandran, Ranina Reddy

Reception

''Times of India'' wrote "The plot had enough scope for making it a wholesome entertainer, but one needs to watch the movie to know how it has been badly wasted." ''Cinema Express'' wrote "Dharma Prabhu quite needlessly takes on the mantle of messaging. It appears even narakalokam isn’t immune to the rampant disease of posturing." ''Sify'' wrote "Apart from Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikecei, none of the Tamil fantasy comedies have clicked in Tamil mainly because of shoddy writing and execution. Leading comedy actor Yogi Babu’s Dharmaprabhu in which he plays the lead title role is another addition to the genre, which disappoints."

References

{{Reflist 2010s Tamil-language films 2010s fantasy comedy films Indian fantasy comedy films Indian adventure comedy films Films shot in Chennai 2010s adventure comedy films Films scored by Justin Prabhakaran 2019 comedy films 2019 films