Dharma is a 1998 Tamil-language action film directed by Keyaar. The film stars Vijayakanth and Preetha Vijayakumar. The film, produced by A. Abbas Rowther, has a musical score by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 9 July 1998. It was moderately successful at the box office. The film is a remake of the Hindi film Ziddi.[1][2]
| Dharma | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Keyaar |
| Written by | Prasannakumar (dialogues) |
| Screenplay by | Keyaar |
| Story by | Robin Henry |
| Based on | Ziddi (1997 hindi film) |
| Produced by | A. S. Ibrahim Rowther (presenter) A. Abbas Rowther |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Rajarajan |
| Edited by | R. T. Annadurai |
| Music by | Ilaiyaraaja |
Production company | Rowther Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 160 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Dharma (Vijayakanth) lives with his lawyer father (Jaishankar), mother (Vadivukkarasi), journalist brother Vijay (Thalaivasal Vijay), and beloved sister Geetha (Shilpa). Later, Dharma and Sharmila (Preetha Vijayakumar) fall in love with each other. Dharma is an angry man who cannot tolerate injustice. One day, his sister is molested by the rowdy Raja, and Dharma kills him in public. Thus, he is sent to jail. In the meantime, his friend Ranjith (Ranjith) becomes an ACP.
Upon his release from jail, Dharma becomes a powerful gangster who punishes the rowdies in his own way and helps the poor. The honest chief minister (S. S. Rajendran) then gives free hand to arrest all the goons including Dharma. Geetha then marries Ranjith.
The drug smuggler Daas (Mansoor Ali Khan), the notorious killer Khan (Ponnambalam), and the land grabber Amarnath (Kazan Khan) work under a corrupted politician Chakravarthy (Vinu Chakravarthy). They decide to kill the current Chief Minister, but Vijay has listened to their plan and immediately informs Ranjith. Surprisingly, Ranjith kills Vijay from behind. In fact, Ranjith is Raja's brother (the man who was killed by Dharma) and wants to take revenge on Dharma.
Later, the Chief Minister is severely injured by the rowdies, but Dharma saves him and hides him in a secured place. Meanwhile, Geetha finds out that Vijay was killed by Ranjith, and Ranjith also kills her.
The police department seeks Dharma for kidnapping the Chief Minister. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.
Since climax of original Hindi film took 90 days to shoot, KR decided to add the bomb blast scenes from Hindi film Ziddi in the Tamil version replacing Sunny Deol with Vijayakanth thereby shooting the climax in 3 days.[3]
| Dharma | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 1998 |
| Recorded | 1998 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 28:41 |
| Producer | Ilaiyaraaja |
The film score and the soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The soundtrack, released in 1998, features 8 tracks with lyrics written by Pulamaipithan and Vasan. The soundtrack was well received.[4][5][6][7]
| Track | Song | Singer(s) | Lyrics | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Dharmangal" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | Vaasan | 5:00 |
| 2 | "Iru Kanngal" (Happy) | Ilaiyaraaja | 1:09 | |
| 3 | "Iru Kanngal" (Sad) | Ilaiyaraaja | 1:06 | |
| 4 | "Iru Kanngal" (Happy) | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 5:04 | |
| 5 | "Iru Kanngal" (Sad) | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 5:00 | |
| 6 | "Manakkum" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha | Pulamaipithan | 5:01 |
| 7 | "Sembaruthi" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Swarnalatha | 5:02 | |
| 8 | "Thinam" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | Vaasan | 1:19 |
Filmography of Keyaar | |
|---|---|
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