How can somebody not like Charuhasan? He was phenomenal as a priest in Vedham Pudhithu . He played a powerful silent character in Thalapathi , where he was typecast in a priest role yet again. Of course, how can we forget his uber-cool rendition of the character M from the James Bond series in Vikram ? Promos can be misleading, but I was really looking forward to watch two of my all-time favourite actors — Charuhasan and Janagaraj — on the screen after a long time. When the title card appeared, I was mildly surprised. Along with the statutory warning, it said, “Touching a woman without her consent is a punishable offence.” I sat up straight. But the film’s tone-deaf proclamations about women empowerment and transgender rights are painstakingly offensive.
Dha Dha 87 begins with the introduction of Jail Pandi (Anand Pandi), who lies motionless on a railway track. Is he dead? Was he murdered? Or could it be suicide? Every character makes a passing mention about suicide. The hero wants to die because he couldn’t charm his lady, despite stalking her and performing all sorts of gimmickry that Tamil cinema stars have mastered over the years. The heroine (played by Sri Pallavi) wants to commit suicide because the hero didn’t reciprocate her feelings. The hero’s friend, for whatever reason, says he wants to die.
- Cast: Charuhasan, Saroja, Janagaraj, Anand Pandi, Sri Pallavi and Kathir
- Director: Vijay Sri G
- Storyline: Where’s the plot?
And it’s amusing to watch the sheer absurdity of the situation. Charuhasan is introduced as an “ageing superstar”. He plays a gangster Sathya. All he does is pose like a ‘wannabe’ gangster, and mouth vapid dialogues, occasionally. Even during the ’80s, Charuhasan refrained from playing banal characters. At 89, he looks tired and understandably so.
There’s a genuinely funny stretch that may sound pompous on paper. The lead characters of Dha Dha 87 are a spin-off on Kamal Haasan’s and Amala’s characters from Sathya . It’s a wacky idea, and had everything in its favour. Any sane filmmaker would have focused on the older couple, instead of writing an awful parallel story about a wailing hero.
