Dharani (born V. C. Ramani) is an Indian former

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, who primarily directed

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 ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

action films. He is best known for directing super hit Tamil action films ''

Dhill ''Dhill'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Dharani. The film stars Vikram and Laila, while Ashish Vidyarthi, Nassar and Vivek play supporting roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Vidyasagar, wh ...

'', ''

Dhool ''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 ...

'' and ''

Ghilli ''Ghilli'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language romantic action masala film directed by Dharani and produced by A. M. Rathnam. It is a remake of the Telugu-language film ''Okkadu'' (2003). The film stars Vijay, Trisha and Prakash Raj with Ashi ...

''.

Career

He first directed the film '' Ethirum Pudhirum'', loosely based on forest brigand

Veerappan Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching o ...

and his younger brother's death, starring

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

. Political controversies ensured its delayed release in 1999. It received critical acclaim and was awarded second place in the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film is given by the Government of Tamil Nadu as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. It includes prizes for three top places. Key List of winners Reference ...

. The film's producer T. Ajay kumar made Dharani the director of his next production, starring Vikram, ''

''. The film was a box-office success and his next film ''

'', produced by

A. M. Rathnam A. M. Rathnam is an Indian film producer, lyricist, screenwriter, and director known for his works in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Under the gamut of Sri Surya Movies Entertainment, Hyderabad, a movie production house owned by him, he has produced ...

in 2003, again with Vikram along with

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress, model and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil films.

and

Reemma Sen Reema Sen (born 29 October 1981) is an Indian actress and model who primarily appeared in Bengali theatre films, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. Early life and education Sen was born in Kolkata on 29 October 1981. She completed high school fro ...

, was a box office success. He worked with

again for the film ''

'' starring Vijay and

Trisha Trisha is a unisex given name, usually derived from the female Latin given name Patricia. Notable people and characters with the name include: People *Trisha (actress), Indian film actress Trisha Krishnan (born 1983) * Trisha Baptie (born 197 ...

, that was a blockbuster movie and a comeback movie in Vijay's career. It was followed by

film ''

Bangaram Bangaram is an atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. Geography The atoll has a roughly rectangular shape and is 8.1 km in length with a maximum width of 4.2 km. and with a lagoon area of . It is located over off Kannu ...

'', featuring Pawan Kalyan in the lead. In 2008, he directed ''

Kuruvi ''Kuruvi'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language superhero comedy film written and directed by Dharani. Produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin, the film stars Vijay in the titular role with Trisha and Suman in other prominent roles. Vivek, Ashish Vidy ...

'', rejoining the lead cast of ''Ghilli''. Unlike the previous success in ''Ghilli'', ''Kuruvi'' was an average hit at the box office and was panned by critics. In 2011, he remade the 2010 Hindi film ''

Dabangg ''Dabangg'' () is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Abhinav Singh Kashyap and produced by Malaika Arora Khan and Arbaaz Khan under Arbaaz Khan Productions with Dhilin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. Kha ...

'' in Tamil as ''

Osthe ''Osthe'' (''The Best'') is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by S. Dharani, a remake of the 2010 Bollywood film ''Dabangg''. It starred Silambarasan, Richa Gangopadhyay, Sonu Sood, Jithan Ramesh, Santhanam, VTV Ganesh ...

'', with

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

in the lead role, which was again a critical and was declared an average hit. Dharani announced that he would make a Telugu film titled ''Merupu'' with

Ram Charan Teja Konidela Ram Charan Teja (born 27 March 1985) is an Indian actor, producer, and entrepreneur who works predominantly in Telugu films. One of the highest-paid Telugu film actors, he is the recipient of three Filmfare Awards and two Nandi Award ...

and Kajal Aggarwal, and the film had an official launch in late April 2010. The film progressed slowly throughout 2010 and was later shelved by 2011. .

Filmography

*''All films are in

, unless otherwise noted.'' ;Singer *"Thaarumaaru" (''

Uchathula Shiva ''Uchathula Shiva'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action film which was directed by Jaypee, starring Karan and Neha Ratnakaran in the leading roles. Featuring music composed by Vidyasagar, the film is produced by Karan's wife, Devi Kara ...

'')

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharani Telugu film directors Tamil film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Hindi-language film directors Tamil screenwriters