Dikkiloona
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''Dikkiloona'' is a 2021 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
science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. The genre often mocks or satirizes standard science fic ...
film written and directed by Karthik Yogi in his directoral debut . The film stars Santhanam in a triple role alongside, Anagha and Shirin Kanchwala, while
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'' ( ...
,
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980), also known by his nickname Bhajji, is a former Indian cricketer. He later became a politics, politician, serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He is also a fil ...
,
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 ...
and
Anandaraj Anandaraj (born 10 November 1958) is an Indian actor, He has acted in villain roles in several Tamil films and has appeared in over a three hundred films in different languages including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Career Anandar ...
play supporting roles. The film features music composed by
Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
, with cinematography and editing were performed respectively by Arvi and Jomin. The film was released on
ZEE5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...
on 10 September 2021, coinciding with the occasion of
Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi () or Vinayaka Chavithi () or Vinayagar Chaturthi (), is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Ganesh. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's ''m ...
, and received mixed to positive reviews from critics.


Plot

Mani, an ex-hockey player leads a stressful married life, and works as a lineman for the electricity board. While trying to solve an issue, he meets a group of scientists who are developing a time machine. He uses it to travel back to 2020 and change the root cause of all his problems. Mani in the year 2027 is not in good terms with his wife Priya and his parents-in-law as he did not achieve big as a hockey player and instead works as EB Lineman with meagre amount of salary. Priya is upset with him as she thinks Mani cheated her regarding his career as hockey player. She keeps throwing tantrums on him which makes Mani frustrated. Mani with help of his friend Albert, who works as a cleaner in a scientists team who work on making a Time travel device to work, travels through time in backwards just 2 days before his wedding with Priya in the year 2020. Mani introduces himself to his past version as EB Mani and the groom Mani does not believe him and rather doubts he must be a doppelganger born out of his father's illicit relationship. But when Mani reveals about few things which he only knew, groom Mani believes him. EB Mani demands him to stop the marriage but groom Mani refuses. EB Mani blackmails him with a video and tells if he does not stop his marriage, he will circulate the video to everyone. EB Mani also gives his exit watch to groom Mani and tells him to travel to his future in 2027 so that he will understand why insists to stop the wedding. Groom Mani travels to 2027. He is shocked to see his then wife Priya who is not having good relationship with him and his family. His parent-in-law are also not giving any respect. He has not achieved in Hockey and works only as an ordinary technician in Electricity board. Groom Mani is devastated that Priya regrets for marrying him and tells him that had this marriage not happened both of them would have led a happy life elsewhere. Groom Mani also understands that Priya's friend Meghna is the woman who will be an apt wife for him as she is so supportive of him even during his downfall. She had also divorced her husband Karthik who she thinks is unworthy of her. Groom Mani returns to 2020 and stops the marriage with Priya and proposes to Meghna (Groom Mani intervenes during the timeline of Meghna being proposed to by Karthik). EB Mani is now in the new timeline in 2027. He is happy that he had achieved as hockey player but shocked that he is in final stage of divorce with Meghna. Mani drops the divorce proposal without knowing why he filed for divorce and both start to live together again. Mani now understands why he filed for divorce. Meghna is a spoilt brat from rich family. She always wants to be in limelight and goes to any extent together with her so-called boy bestie to gain likes in social media Tik-tok which reflects in his career when he loses his national team selection match. EB Mani is neither able to live with Meghna nor able to change her. He regrets his decision of changing the past. He tries to get in contact with Priya who is now working in a small restaurant as waitress shocking Mani. Priya apologizes to him for forcing him to marry her when she knew he is not willing to. She is feeling guilty of aborting their child after the wedding was stopped. EB Mani now decides to change everything back to normal again. With help of Albert in the new timeline, he once again invokes the time travel machine to go to the same day when he tried to stop the wedding. However, one of the scientists is angry at him for using the device for his personal benefit, and therefore tampers with the machine half way during his travel which leads to EB Mani ending up in a mental asylum. After much struggles in mental asylum he arrives on time when EB Mani has sent groom Mani to 2027 and groom Mani returns to 2020 after his time travel. Both Manis are surprised to see their alternate self introducing him as Goundamani. Groom Mani is confused as EB Mani urges to stop the wedding while new Mani tells not to after he explains about his experiences in new timeline. When groom Mani refuses to marry Priya, new Mani tells that Priya is pregnant and she is not as bad as understood by them. Groom Mani goes to Priya just few minutes before the marriage and confesses that he may or may not be a successful person in future and if she is willing to accept him still, they can marry. While waiting in mandap regarding the decision, Priya arrives to mandap to Mani's surprise. She tells she is ready to marry him because he told her the truth. Priya and Mani happily marry. EB Mani and new Mani disappear to their new timeline. Meghna is proposed to by Karthik. In new 2027 Mani sees himself as successful hockey player, father of a daughter and Priya as his wife screaming at him for silly reasons. This time Mani is not irritated by her and rather sees her in different perspective.


Cast


Production


Development

On 5 September 2019, KJR Studios announced its collaboration with K. S. Sinish's newly formed production house Soldiers Factory, for a
science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. The genre often mocks or satirizes standard science fic ...
film titled ''Dikkiloona'', and further stated that Santhanam will star in the film in triple roles for the first time, as protagonist, antagonist as well as a comedian. The film also features him in the nude for a scene. The film's title was inspired from the word "Dikkilona" which was used by
Goundamani Subramaniyan Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Tamil cinema. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil language, Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. The p ...
and
Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.''Gentleman'' (1993).


Casting

In October 2019, the makers announced that former Indian cricketer
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980), also known by his nickname Bhajji, is a former Indian cricketer. He later became a politics, politician, serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He is also a fil ...
would play the supporting role in the project, eventually marking his debut in
Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...
. The following month, Anagha who played lead role in ''
Natpe Thunai ''Natpe Thunai'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language sports film directed by D. Parthiban Desingu in his directorial debut, while Sreekanth Vasrp and Devesh Jeyachandran wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues. Produced by Sundar C and Khushbu ...
'' was cast in the female lead role alongside Shirin Kanchwala.
Munishkanth Ramdoss, better known as Munishkanth, is an Indian actor and comedian who appears in Tamil language films. He had notable roles in films, including '' Mundasupatti'' (2014), '' Maanagaram'' (2017), '' Maragadha Naanayam'' (2017) and '' Raatchas ...
,
Anandaraj Anandaraj (born 10 November 1958) is an Indian actor, He has acted in villain roles in several Tamil films and has appeared in over a three hundred films in different languages including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Career Anandar ...
,
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'' ( ...
,
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 ...
and
Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has also performed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films and television series. ...
, Sha Ra and
Arun Alexander Arun Alexander (14 October 1973 – 28 December 2020) was an Indian actor and a dubbing artist for Tamil language, Tamil-language films. He was a regular in Lokesh Kanagaraj and Nelson Dilipkumar, Nelson's films. He voiced Optimus Prime and Baloo ...
joined the cast in the same month, along with film critic Prasanth Rangaswamy, in his acting debut.


Filming

The
principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
of the film commenced in November 2019 with the film being mostly set 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 ...
. Harbhajan Singh began shooting for his portion of the film in December 2019. The filming was wrapped up in March 2020 before the
COVID-19 lockdown in India On the evening of 24 March 2020, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21days, limiting the movement of the entire 1.38billion (138 crores) population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. ...
.


Music

The music for the film is composed by
Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...
, collaborating for the first time with Santhanam after the latter's transformation into lead roles, with lyrics written by Ku. Karthik,
Arunraja Kamaraj Arunraja Kamaraj is an Indian singer, lyricist, actor and director in Tamil-language films. He is known for his works as lyricist in films such as '' Jigarthanda'', '' Theri'', ''Pencil'' and '' Kabali''. He also debuted as an actor in '' Raja ...
and Saravedi Saran. Yuvan remixed a popular classical song ''Per Vachalum Vaikama Ponalum'' from ''
Michael Madana Kama Rajan ''Michael Madana Kama Rajan'' is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and written by Kamal Haasan, with Crazy Mohan penning the dialogues. The film stars Haasan in four roles alongside Khushbu, Urvasi a ...
'' (1990) which was composed by his father
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 ...
, and was released as a single on 3 September 2021. The full album was released by Sony Music India on 6 September 2021.


Release

The film was initially supposed to have its theatrical release in April 2020 but was called off due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of , according to Indian government ...
. KJR Studios announced that the film would be released via
over-the-top media service An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered Direct-to-consumer, directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an Terrestria ...
. The film released on
ZEE5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...
on 10 September 2021, coinciding with the occasion of
Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi () or Vinayaka Chavithi () or Vinayagar Chaturthi (), is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Ganesh. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's ''m ...
.


Reception

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan () is an Indian film critic and writer. A chemical engineering graduate with no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing, he has a diverse career in advertising, IT consulting, and cinema writing. He has authored two boo ...
wrote for ''
Film Companion Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-defunct digital platform Film Compani ...
'',"The film doesn’t use the time machine concept well nor is it a great vehicle for a leading man." M Suganth of ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' gave 3.0 out of 5 stars and stated that "The supporting comedians, especially Anandaraj, Munishkanth and Lollu Sabha Maran, are amusing. It is these scenes that rescue the film and make us wonder if this material would have worked better if the director had chosen to make it as an out-and-out comedy. In its present state, it is merely diverting fare that you forget once it ends."


Controversies

Santhanam's mockery of disabled people in the film was met with harsh condemnation from various social activists.


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt11143400 2020s Tamil-language films 2021 direct-to-video films 2021 films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020s films about time travel Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja Indian science fiction comedy films Indian time travel films ZEE5 original films 2020s Indian films