Review: Dharmadurai is an enjoyable family drama

An engaging screenplay, stunning music, wonderful performances and the perfect rural ambiance make Dharmaduraia fun watch.

Director Seenu Ramasamy and Vijay Sethupathi first teamed up for the National award-winning film Thenmerku Paruvakatru in 2010 before getting together again for the yet-unreleased Idam Porul Yaeval. Their third film together Dharmadurai hit the screens this week.

Dharmadurai (Vijay Sethupathi) belongs to a remote village in the Theni district and is the only literate in his large family, comprising of his widowed mother, three brothers and married sister.

Dharma studies to be a doctor and is the apple of his mother’s (Raadhika) eye, while the rest of the family runs a Chit Fund company.

The film opens with a perennially drunk Dharma bad-mouthing his family, picking unnecessary quarrels and earning the wrath of his brothers. The situation gets so bad that his brothers even hatch a plan to kill him.

His only support is his mother, who pleads with him to leave the village and go somewhere where he can find peace and happiness. Dharma leaves the village in the middle of the night, but accidently takes the bag containing the chit fund money.

He goes back to his old Medical College to trace the whereabouts of his dear friends Stella (Srushti) and Subhashini (Tamannaah), who studied with him.

Thus begins the second phase of his life.

An interesting flashback gives a glimpse into the carefree life of a bunch of young medical students with high ideals of serving the nation.

The second half ties up all the loose ends explaining what happens to those lofty dreams, who is Anbuselvi (Aishwarya) and why Dharma hates his family.

Director Seenu Ramasamy has woven a beautiful tale with plenty of family sentiments, fun, and an important social message. The well-written characters with some powerful performances by Vijay Sethupathi, Raadhika and Aishwarya form the backbone of this film.

There are many facets to Vijay’s character and the talented actor proves once again that he is an effortless performer.

Raadhika, as his strong, supportive and loving mother, gives a remarkable performance. So does Aishwarya, as the village belle.

What takes the film down a notch is the screenplay, which appears a bit too smooth and lacks conviction at times. It is funny how Vijay has absolutely no clue that he has escaped with all the money, leaving his family in the lurch for months on end.

But an engaging screenplay generously peppered with humour, stunning music by Yuvan Shankar Raja, wonderful performances and the perfect rural ambiance make Seenu Ramasamy Dharmadurai a fun watch.

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