Dhool

Plot

Arumugam (Vikram) lives in a village and is a kind hearted man. There is a chemical factory in the village which releases toxic wastes into the river and the villagers decide to give a petition to the minister requesting him to close the factory. Arumugam and his childhood rival Easwari (Jyothika) along with Easwari’s grandmother leave to Chennai to meet the minister Kaalaipandi (Shayaji Shinde) who has won from the village’s constituency.

All three reach Chennai and stay with Narain (Vivek), who also belong to the same village but settled in Chennai. Swapna (Reema Sen), a fashion model, also lives near Narain’s home and she is attracted towards Arumugam whereas Narain loves Swapna. Arumugam meets the minister amidst heavy crowd and conveys the problems faced by their villagers due to water pollution. The minister assures to take swift action.

Meanwhile, Sornaka (Telangana Shakunthala) and her brother Aadhi (Pasupathy) are local goons involved in many illegal activities with the minister Kaalaipandi supporting them behind. One day, Easwari accindetally collides with Aadhi following which he tries to beat her but saved by Arumugam. Also, Arumugam fractures Aadhi’s hands. Now Sornaka and Aadhi set an eye on Arumugam and decide to trouble him.

They along with the help of the minister kidnap Arumugam and injure him badly. The minister also informs that he will never take any action against the chemical factory in his village. Narain, Swapna and Easwari rescue Arumugam and treat him. Arumugam discloses the true image of the minister and the culprits behind him to Easwari and Narain. Arumugam decides to take revenge on the minister and tarnish his image among the public. Arumugam uses the minister’s memo pad and forges a letter praising an adult movie and requesting it to be published in a daily newspaper. The newspaper editor believes it and publishes the next day. This brings agitation among political parties and people demand resignation from Kaalaipandi.

Sornaka decides to kidnap Easwari and kill Arumugam but instead Arumugam thrashes Sornaka’s men and also saves Easwari. Meanwhile, Sornaka while trying to escape gets hit by a lorry and dies.

The minister decides to bring back his lost image by staging a fast until death event which will bring sympathy among citizens. Arumugam comes to the event to kill the minister but the minister escapes while he gets shot by a police. However, the minister is killed by Aarumugam. The film ends with union of Aarumugam and Eeshwari as lovers. Finally Arumugam produces all the evidences collected by him against Kaalaipandi and he also helps the chemical factory to be closed which saves his village.

Cast

Production

After the success of their 2001 collaboration Dhill, Dharani and Vikram announced in February 2002 that they were to come together again for a project titled Dhool. Jyothika got the chance to play opposite Vikram for the first time. The film's song were partially shot in Denmark, and plans had been earlier made to shoot fight sequences in London, though the team later opted against doing so. A huge set of a temple, a church, some houses and a shopping area, was erected at the Indian Express Office premises.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Vidyasagar. The soundtrack was well received by the audience and critics alike. All songs were chartbusters.

Critical reception

Upon release in January 2003, the film was financially successful, despite opening alongside other prominent ventures such as the Kamal Haasan-Madhavan starrer Anbe Sivam and Vijay's Vaseegara. Rediff.com review praised Vikram's enactment citing that "Vikram is at his peak" and that "he seems as much at home with comedy as with action, in romance as in emotional sequences", while the critic from The Hindu also praised his performance. The film became a blockbuster and Vikram's fifth success in two and a half years with Vikram being dubbed as "the matinee idol of our times" by a leading Indian newspaper. The film was nominated in six different categories at the Filmfare Awards South 2003 with A. M. Rathnam, Dharani and Vidyasagar being considered for the Best Film, Best Director and Best Music Director categories respectively. Furthermore, Jyothika was listed amongst the Best Actress nominees, while Reemma Sen and Vivek were also shortlisted for the Best Supporting Actress and Best Comedian awards. However the film did not win any awards with Pithamagan sweeping most of the categories that year, although Vivek did win for his role in Saamy. The film successfully ran 25 weeks.

Remakes

Dhool was remade and released in Telugu in October 2003 by Ravi Raja Pinnisetty as Veede, with Ravi Teja and Arthi Agarwal taking up the lead roles, while Reemma Sen retained her role.

The Sinhala remake of the film released in Sri Lanka in 2014 starred Ranjan Ramanayake as Ranja. The film was took part as the Ranja - Part 2 as well.

A Hindi version of the film was also planned by Guddu Dhanoa in 2004 with Sunny Deol and Gracy Singh in the lead roles under the banner of Padmalaya, but the film failed to take off.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South Nominated