Dhool Pet

''Dhool'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by Dharani. The film stars Vikram, Jyothika and Reema Sen. Vivek, Sayaji Shinde, Telangana Shakuntala, and Pasupathy, among others, play important roles. Produced by A. M. Rathnam at a cost of 7 crore, the film had music composed by Vidyasagar and released on 10 January 2003. It received positive reviews and was a commercial blockbuster at the box office.

''Dhool'' was remade in Telugu as ''Veede'' (2003), with Ravi Teja in the lead role and directed by Ravi Raja Pinnisetty. The Sinhala remake of the film was titled '' Ranja'' (2014) and starred Ranjan Ramanayake.

Plot

Arumugam lives in a village and is a kindhearted man. There is a chemical factory in the village which releases toxic wastes into the river, and the villagers decide to give a petition to Minister Kaalaipandi requesting him to close the factory. Arumugam and his childhood rival Eswari, along with her grandmother Mundakanni, leave to Chennai to meet Kaalaipandi, who has won from the village's constituency. All three reach Chennai and stay with Narayanan aka Narain, who also belongs to the same village but is settled in Chennai. Swapna, a fashion model, also lives near Narain's home, and she is 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 he will take swift action.

Meanwhile, Sornam and her brother Aadhi are local goons involved in many illegal activities with Kaalaipandi supporting them incognito. One day, Eswari accidentally collides with Aadhi, following which he tries to hit her, but she is saved by Arumugam. In the ensuing scuffle, Arumugam fractures Aadhi's hands. Now, Sornaka and Aadhi set an eye on Arumugam and decide to trouble him. They, along with Kaalaipandi's help, kidnap Arumugam and injure him badly. Kaalaipandi also informs that he will never take any action against the chemical factory in his village. Narain, Swapna, and Eswari rescue and treat Arumugam. Arumugam discloses the true image of Kaalaipandi and the culprits behind him to Eswari and Narain.

Arumugam decides to take revenge on Kaalaipandi and tarnish his image among the public. Arumugam uses Kaalaipandi's memo pad and forges a letter praising an adult movie 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. Meanwhile, Sornaka decides to kidnap Eswari and kill Arumugam, but instead, Arumugam thrashes Sornaka's men and saves Eswari. Sornaka, while trying to escape, gets hit by a lorry and dies.

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. When he discloses it on the media, fearing his position, Kaalaipandi attempts to kill the CM in hospital. 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 policemen (who were aiming for Arumugam). Arumugam returns to his village with Eswari and Mundakanni, while the CM, having escaped the attempts on his life; exposes Kaalaipaandi. It is also shown that both Arumugam and Eswari had developed a romantic interest in each other. The film ends with the whole village celebrating Arumugam's victory.

Cast

* Vikram as Arumugam
* Jyothika as Eswari (Voice Dubbed By Savitha Reddy)
*Reema Sen as Swapna (Voice Dubbed By Renuka Kathir)
* Vivek as Narayanasamy (Narain)
*Prem Sundar as Sullan
*Sayaji Shinde as Minister Kaalaipandi
* Telangana Shakuntala as Sornam
* Pasupathy as Aadhi
*Manoj K. Jayan as Sub-Inspector Karunakaran
*Mayilsamy as Kunchacko, Narain's Friend (at times foil)
* Paravai Muniyamma as Mundakanni Eswari
*Kalairani as Arumugam's mother
* Bosskey as Nakkeeran Magazine editor
* Chitti Babu as Hari,Minister's PA (secretly supports Arumugam)
*Chaplin Balu as Narain's Labour
*Kottachi as Narain's labour
* Karnaa Radha
*Shakeela as herself
*Koena Mitra in a special appearance (Koduva Meesai item song)

Production

Dharani first approached Vijay for the lead role in this film. He opted this movie because he said that he had just done a mass movie. Next he was looking for a love story subject. So then Dharani approached Vikram after making some corrections in the story. 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''. Jyothika got the chance to play opposite Vikram for the first time. The film's 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. A huge set of a temple, a church, some houses and a shopping area, was erected at the Indian Express Office premises.

Soundtrack

The Music of the film was composed by Vidyasagar. The soundtrack was well received by the audience and critics alike, especially "Aasai Aasai" and "Koduvaa Meesai" were popular. A part of the song "Karimizhi Kuruviye" from the 2002 Malayalam film Meesa Madhavan was reused in "Aasai Aasai", 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. The music of "Ithanundu Muthathile" and "Koduva Meesai" were used for two songs in ''Naaga'', another film that Vidyasagar composed the music for.

Critical reception

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''. 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", while the critic from ''The Hindu'' also praised his performance. The film became a blockbuster and Vikram's fifth success in two and a half years with Vikram being dubbed as "the matinee idol of our times" by a leading Indian newspaper. The film was nominated in six different categories at the Filmfare Awards South 2003 with A. M. Rathnam, Dharani and Vidyasagar being considered for the Best Film, Best Director and Best Music Director categories respectively. Furthermore, Jyothika was listed amongst the Best Actress nominees, while Reemma Sen and Vivek were also shortlisted for the Best Supporting Actress and Best Comedian awards. However the film did not win any awards with ''Pithamagan'' sweeping most of the categories that year, although Vivek did win for his role in '' Saamy''. The film successfully ran for 25 weeks.

Remakes

''Dhool'' was remade and released in Telugu in October 2003 by Ravi Raja Pinnisetty as ''Veede'', with Ravi Teja and Arthi Agarwal taking up the lead roles, while Reemma Sen retained her role. Shakuntala who acted as Swarnakka portrayed Paravai Muniyamma's role in Telugu remake.

The Sinhala remake of the film released in Sri Lanka in 2014 starred Ranjan Ramanayake as '' Ranja''.

The Bengali remake of the film released in 2006 starred Jeet, Koel Mallick as '' Ghatak''.

A Hindi version of the film was also planned by Guddu Dhanoa in 2004 with Sunny Deol and Gracy Singh starring, but the film failed to take off.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South
Nominations
* Best Actress - Jyothika
*Best Actor - Vikram
*Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil - Reemma Sen
* Filmfare Award for Best Comedian – Tamil - Vivek

References

External links

*

{{Dharani (director)

2003 films
2000s masala films
Tamil films remade in other languages
2000s Tamil-language films
Films scored by Vidyasagar
Films directed by Dharani
Indian action drama films
2000s action drama films
Films shot in Kollam