Why do comedians have a fascination for the world inhabited by the gods? Is it for the ‘rich’ colourful clothes/crowns or the chance to speak ‘pure’ Tamil? Senthil/Goundamani tried it once — in a 1995 film titled Lucky Man . Vadivelu did something like that in Indralogathil Na Azhagappan and did not exactly end up a lucky man.
Yogi Babu takes the same route with Dharmaprabhu. The film opens with an ailing Yamaraja (Radha Ravi) who wants to relinquish his post, and pass on the baton to someone else. His trusted aide, Chitragupta (Ramesh Thilak in a good performance), has his eyes on the throne but Radha Ravi has other plans — and appoints his son (Yogi Babu).
Clearly, ‘vaarisu arasiyal’ isn’t restricted to politics in Tamil Nadu alone and Dharmaprabhu , despite revolving around life in the heavens, is intent on being a commentary (and a rather yawn-inducing one) on today’s politics. There’s a line about how many ministers are undeserving of their position. There’s a political analyst character named Ko Rangaswamy, an obvious reference to ‘Cho’ Ramaswamy. Why, there’s even a character dressed like Donald Trump, who’s supposed to be the ‘Yama of USA’. Dharmaprabhu is filled with such incredulous characters and even more unconvincing situations.
- Genre: Comedy
- Cast: Yogi Babu, Janani Iyer, Ramesh Thilak
- Storyline: The appointment of Yogi Babu as the new Yamaraja causes ripples in the heavens
The dialogues are essentially written to suit Yogi Babu’s style, and while that might have worked in a film in which he appears only in portions, watching that alone for more than 140 minutes is a distressing experience that you should undertake at your own risk. Sample the dialogues – when Yogi Babu is introduced to the ‘Yama Guru’, he says: “ Nee Yama Guru ah irunthaenna Mouna Guru iruntha enna. Eli pudikaravan maari iruka. ” The makers of the recent hit Monster might be quite peeved by that dialogue, I suppose.
This is a film in which you’ll see characters dressed like Periyar, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, and none of them manage to make any impact at all apart from looking like they were plucked from a fancy dress competition rehearsal. Janani Iyer stars in a blink-and-miss role that includes a duet that has no business existing. Director Muthukumaran could have done a lot better with the dates of a leading comedian like Yogi Babu than dish up this hideously unfunny offering that the makers describe as a film.
