''Dharmaprabhu'' is a 2019 Indian

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

fantasy comedy Fantasy comedy or comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on, and parodies of, other works of fantasy. Literature The subgenre ro ...

film written and directed by Muthukumaran.

Yogi Babu Yogi Babu (born 22 July 1985) is an Indian actor and comedian, who appears in Tamil films. He has won Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award for '' Aandavan Kattalai'' (2016), '' Kolamavu Kokila'' (2018), '' Pariyerum Perumal'' (2018), '' Love Today'' ( ...

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

Radha Ravi Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi mononymously called as Radha Ravi is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of veteran actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brot ...

, 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 mononymous 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 mo ...

and

Rajendran Arunachalam Rajendran, also known as A. Rajendran (born 1 June 1957) and better known/credited as Mottai Rajendran or ''Naan Kadavul'' Rajendran, is an Indian stunt double and actor working mainly in Tamil cinema. He debuted in 2003 with the Ta ...

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 two Hindi films. He made his debut as a film composer in the 201 ...

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

Plot

In the world beyond the earth & in the deep void of space, the God of Death, Yeman Sr. (

) plans on retiring after his long reign in the Yemalogam. On one side, after hearing of this, Yeman's

Chitragupta Chitragupta (, 'rich in secrets' or 'hidden picture') is a Hindu deity who serves as the registrar of the dead. He is assigned with the task of maintaining the records of the actions of human beings in a register called the ''Agrasandhanī''. Upo ...

(

) is scheming to be the next Yeman. But, to his disappointment, Yeman Sr. makes his son (

) the next Yeman, in accordance of his lineage. Yeman Sr.'s son, is shown to be a 5th grader, who is mostly a comedian in his class & doesn't care at all about studies. When the news is passed to him that he is to be his father, Yeman Sr's successor, he argues with his parents, his father Yeman Sr. & his mother Ayyo, about him not wanting to become Yeman. However, his parents convinces him & so, for his parents' sake, he is crowned as the king of the, which enrages Chitragupta, as his dreams have now become vain. Because of his desire for the throne, he tries to dethrone Yeman Jr. by all means possible. After many attempts, Chitragupta makes Yeman Jr. make a mistake by saving a young girl from a lorry accident & preventing the death of a corrupt caste politician Kumaradasan.

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

Peruman (

) is exasperated because of Yeman Jr.'s actions & he swallows his father, Yeman Sr. & announces to Yeman Jr. that he has 7 days to reform his mistakes & to kill Kumaradasan, or else, Shiva will destroy the Yemalogam. Even with Yeman Jr.'s 1+1 plan, given to him by 4 distinguished men, will he be able to rectify his past mistakes, kill the politician madman & save the entire Yemalogam, forms the crux of the story?

Cast

as Dharma Prabhu *

Yama Yama (), also known as Kāla and Dharmarāja, is the Hindu god of death and justice, responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Naraka. He is often identified with Dharmadeva, the personification of ''Dharm ...

n * Sam Jones as Bala *

as Ayyo *

Meghna Naidu Meghna Naidu (born 19 September 1980) is an Indian actress who has starred primarily in Hindi films. She has also appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali films. Biography Naidu's first major appearance was in the mu ...

cameo appearance *

Azhagam Perumal Azhagam Perumal is an Indian film director and actor, who works in Tamil film Industry. Career Azhagam Perumal hails from the village of Kulasekharapuram in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. All his family members were working in the governme ...

as Kumaradasan the Politician *

Bose Venkat Bose Venkat (born 4 February 1976) 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. Career Venkat came to Chennai at the age of 17, h ...

as Minister *

Bosskey Bosskey is an Indian actor, Radio Jockey, Cricketer, Television anchor,

as "Kho" Rangasamy * Shanmugam Muthusamy as Yama Guru *

Supergood Subramani Supergood Subramani was an Indian actor who worked in Tamil-language films. Career Subramani entered the cinema industry with hopes of becoming a director. He worked as an assistant director to Pavithran for ''Thirumoorthy'' (1995) and to S ...

* P. V. Chandramouli *

Ashvin Raja Ashvin Raja is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He is the son of the film producer 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 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, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

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 ''Maniyaa ...

’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 Indian 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