''Dharma '' () is a 1998 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

action drama film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

directed by

Keyaar Kothanda Ramaiah (also known as K. R. and Keyaar) is an Indian film director, producer, distributor and exhibitor. He has held various leading positions in different film industry organizations. Career KR studied film processing at the M.G.R. ...

. The film stars

Vijayakanth Vijayaraj Alagarswami (25 August 1952 – 28 December 2023), known by his stage name Vijayakanth, was an Indian actor, filmmaker, philanthropist and politician. He worked in Tamil cinema in a career spanning four decades. He ventured into politi ...

and

Preetha Vijayakumar Preetha Hari (née Preetha Vijayakumar) is an Indian businesswoman and former actress who predominantly acted in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. After her marriage to film director Hari, she retired from the film industry in 2002. Career P ...

. A remake of the 1997

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Ziddi'', it was released on 9 July 1998.

Plot

Dharma (

) is an angry man who cannot tolerate injustice. He lives with his lawyer father Ranganathan (

Jaishankar Jaishankar may also refer to: * Jaishankar Prasad (1889 – 1937), Indian writer and playwright * Jaishankar (actor) (1938 – 2000), Indian actor * Jaishankar Menon (born 1956), Indian-American computer scientist * Jaishankar Bhojak (1889 – 1 ...

), mother Savithri (

Vadivukkarasi Vadivukkarasi is an Indian actress. She made her acting debut in the Tamil-language film ''Sigappu Rojakkal'' (1978) and has acted in more than 350 films in Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and 40 television serials in Tamil ...

), journalist brother Vijay (

Thalaivasal Vijay Thalaivaasal Vijay (born A. R. Vijayakumar) is an Indian actor and dubbing artiste. He has acted predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam films. Career Vijay's debut film was '' Thalaivaasal'' (1992), which became part of his stage name in Tamil ...

), and beloved sister Geetha ( Shilpa). Dharma and Sharmila (

) fall in love with each other. One day, Geetha is molested by the rowdy Raja, and Dharma kills Raja in public; thus, he is sent to jail. In the meantime, Dharma's friend Ranjith (

Ranjith Ranjit or Renjith may refer to: Religion * Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam (born 1966), Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic priest, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Colombo * Malcolm Ranjith (born 1947), Sri Lankan Cardinal of the Catholic Church, Archbi ...

) becomes an ACP. Upon his release from jail, Dharma becomes a powerful gangster who punishes rowdies in his own way and helps the poor. The honest chief minister Vedhachalam (

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. He often referred as Latchiya ...

) 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 Kazan Khan (22 June 1972 – 12 June 2023) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films. He was best known for his villain roles. Career Kazan made his acting debut in the year 1992 with Tamil f ...

) work under a corrupted politician Chakravarthy (

Vinu Chakravarthy Vinu Chakravarthy (15 December 1945 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director who is known for acting in more than 1000 movies predominately in Tamil films mostly as a comedian, supporting actor or in a villainous role. ...

). They decide to kill Vedhachalam, but Vijay has listened to their plan and immediately informs Ranjith. Surprisingly, Ranjith kills Vijay from behind. In fact, Ranjith is Raja's brother and wants to take revenge on Dharma. Later, Vedhachalam 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 Vedhachalam. What transpires later forms the crux of the story.

Cast

Production

Since the climax of the original Hindi film took 90 days to shoot, Keyaar decided to reuse the bomb blast scenes from that film in the Tamil version, replacing

Sunny Deol Ajay Singh Deol (born 19 October 1957), better known as Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, and politician. One of the highest grossing actors of Indian cinema, he has worked in Sunny Deol filmography, more than 100 Hindi ...

's portions with Vijayakanth thereby shooting the climax in three days.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

Critical reception

Ji of ''

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

'' gave a negative review, saying that despite suiting Vijayakanth's image, the film lacks freshness. D. S. Ramanujam of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote, "Vijayakanth plays the part with his known ease and vigour. His zeal for action has not diminished. Preetha is no match for him and is more of a showpiece".

References

External links

* {{Keyaar 1990s action drama films 1990s gangster films 1990s Indian films 1990s Tamil-language films 1990s vigilante films 1998 films Films directed by Keyaar Films produced by Ibrahim Rowther Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action drama films Indian gangster films Indian vigilante films Tamil remakes of Hindi films Tamil-language action drama films Tamil-language Indian films