Dhaam Dhoom

Plot

Gautham Subramaniam (Jayam Ravi) is a doctor from an Indian family who lives in Chennai. Since his father (Nizhagal Ravi) and mother are doctors, he wanted to become a doctor. Gautham gets an opportunity from the Government of India to go to Russia to represent India in a week long medical conference, along with five other young doctors. Gautham is delighted to receive this offer and packs his bags to fly to Russia. Meanwhile, his beloved is introduced on the frame which happens to be Shenba (Kangana Ranaut). She happens to be the same village girl in which Gauthams sister Sarasu, (Anu Haasan) resides with her husband (Chetan) and so they two meet and fall in love. Despite initial frictions between her father and uncle (Mahadevan and Bose Venkat) with Gautham, they eventually agree to get the pair married. Gautham’s parents agree to the marriage and as a happy man Gautham is ready to marry Shenba after his return to India from his Russia trip.

Finally, the journey to Russia happens and Gautham reaches Moscow and completes his immigration procedures. Incidentally, Gautham meets Anna (Maria Kojernikova) and unknowingly the sexy lady drops her jacket at the hero. In a quick situation the hero has no time to return the jacket and exits from the Moscow airport accompanied by his medical team. Gautham is flabbergasted by the roads and buildings of the city and is surprised to see the city of Moscow from his hotel view. Gautham learns that the only hiccup with Russians is that the people are ignorant about the English language and the whole conversation with them must be made in Russian national language.

Soon after, Gautham discovers Anna and takes the prospect to return her coat. The two get together well and part the ways. Meanwhile, Gautham medical conference takes place successfully and in order to celebrate its success the whole team head to a club. Gautham bumps into Anna in the night club and they two have an enjoyable time in the club. Anna, due to heavy consumption of Liquor, intoxicates and Gautham has no other choice than to accompany her to her room. When the two reach Anna’s apartment in they settle down and sleep. Gautham is brutally dragged onto the floor by a Russian police officer the next day morning and the reason is that Anna is murdered on her sofa.

Consequently, Gauthams situation changes; he gets abused, accused and is imprisoned by the Russian police. The language, people and the surroundings are totally new and confusing to the hero. Aarthi Chinnappa (Lakshmi Rai) is appointed as a defendant lawyer to the culprit Gautham. The Indian consulate sends Raghavan Nambiar (Jayaram) to Gauthams rescue. When Gautham tries to run away from the Russian Police he gets drowned in a lake and Aarthi finds him at the shore. Aarthi kisses Gautham to rescue him and she realises that Aarthi has fallen in love with Gautham, but suppresses her feelings when she learns about Shenba. Gautham escapes from the police and is running around St. Petersburg with Aarthi, trying to figure out who murdered Anna and why he was caught up in the scandal. Whilst, fleeing from the police, Gautham gets shot by the mafia and manages to escape narrowly. After taking care of his wounds, Aarthi and Gautham decide to seek down those who misled them. With the eventual villainous figure being revealed as Raghavan.

Before a shoot off, Raghavan reveals that Anna was a drug trafficker from Chennai to Russia, and by dropping her coat, consisting of drugs, off at the airport manages to evade being caught. Soon after Anna had changed her ways and was ready to tell the police about Raghavans drug dealing, but before that happened Raghavan along with the mafia had her killed off. In the final scene, Raghavan is killed by the police, and Gautham is set free to reunite with Shenba for their wedding.

Cast

Casting

The film was launched initially with Jayam Ravi paired opposite Genelia DSouza, however she opted out of the project due to fully booked dates for her Telugu film, Dhee. After Genelias removal from the project other leading actresses such as Asin and Mamta Mohandas were approached for a key role in the film, but they also rejected the offer, citing commitments to other projects.

Reema Sen was then roped in for a significant role in the film; however, 14 days after her confirmation, she pulled out of the project, citing differences with the director, Jeeva. The role offered to Reema Sen, that of a lawyer, had no songs and was the second heroine role. Reema Sen confirmed later to Kumudham magazine that she did not want to play second lead in the film, and opted out of the project. On 19 February 2007, the producers confirmed they had roped in Lakshmi Rai to essay the role dropped by Reema Sen. Kangna Ranaut made her debut in the Tamil film industry with the film. Ranauts payment of 75 lakh Indian rupee for the project, an all Indian record for a regional newcomer actress. The project was also Lakshmi Rais biggest film of her career til then, despite being the second female lead in the project. Jayaram was later selected to portray the villain in the film, appearing in a such a role for the first time in his career.

As per Jeevas previous films, Jeeva himself took charge of the cinematography, though, after his death, P. C. Sriram took charge. Although Jeeva had been reworking his final draft during filming, S. Ramakrishnan was brought in after his death to find a way to connect the climax with the previous draft to the final one; the two would not come together properly, otherwise.

Filming

The film started in January 2007 in India, with the initial shoot taking place in Chennai, consisting of Jayam Ravi surrounded by duplicate snow. The first schedule was shot in February 2007, in and around Pollachi, featuring the countryside backdrop, with scenes involving actors Jayam Ravi and Kangna Ranaut, among others. The films crew originally had problems maintaining a visa to film in St. Petersburg, Russia, and decided to relocate the scenes to Prague in the Czech Republic; however, they eventually obtained visas to shoot in Russia. While shooting their schedule in Russia, on 26 June 2007, director Jeeva died after suffering cardiac arrest. The film was suspended indefinitely following the directors demise.

In early July 2007, it was announced that M. Raja, elder sibling of Jayam Ravi, would complete the project, but subsequently, veteran director P. C. Sriram signed to complete the project with Jeevas widow Anees. Finally, Anees announced that the film would be completed by her and Jeevas assistant G.K. Manikandan, whilst Sriram would overlook their efforts. Eventually, the team returned to Russia and canned the remaining scenes within 40 days.

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Kalaignar.

Reception

The film opened to worldwide audiences on 29 August 2008 alongside Jayamkondaan. The film became Jayam Ravis largest release til date with over 200 prints being published worldwide.

The film opened in Chennai strongly, with advance bookings full for the opening weekend at Inox and Sathyam Cinemas, while at Mayajaal, there were 22 shows daily of the film, leading to a successful opening of 92% full attendance. Rs. 49,29,778 was grossed on the first weekend in Chennai multiplexes, which had a total of 166 shows over three days. After the first week the film, maintained its place at top spot, despite the entry of Saroja, gaining Rs. 37,31,124, with a total attendance percentage in Chennai of 70%.

Overseas, in the United Kingdom box office, the film opened at number 22, earning £21,634 during the first weekend, after opening across four Cineworld screens. After the second week the cumulative gross increased to £37,050, retaining the amount of screens, but slipping to 34th in the weekly rankings.

Soundtrack

The film has six songs composed by Harris Jayaraj with the lyrics primarily penned by Na. Muthukumar and Pa. Vijay. The audio of the film released worldwide on 19 March 2008, five months prior to the release. The soundtrack received praise from music critics, with Indiaglitz.com labelling the album as "delightful". Behindwoods gave the soundtrack 4 out 5 and mentioned that, "Clearly a master craftsman is at work here. A nice sophistication prevails through the whole album. No sound hurts your ears. If the film wins good reviews, the songs may play a big part in it."

Telugu tracklist

Lyrics are written by Vennelakanti, Rakhi, Harish Naaga.