REVIEW DHARALA PRABHU (Tamil)

Producer-Screen Media Screen Entertainment

Director-Krishna. R.V. Marimuthu

Star Cast-Harish Krishna, Tanya Hope, Vivek, Sachu, Anupama

Genre-Comedy

Rating-***

Hilarious and Hits Right Notes!

Jyothi Venkatesh

To remake a super duper hit Hindi movie which has dealt with a sensitive and innovative but at the same time also a taboo subject to Tamil isn’t that easy a task. To narrate a story about sperm donation convincingly and making required changes from Vicky Donor to suit the Tamil nativity needs a fine execution, and I should say that director Krishna Marimuthu has succeeded in it to a good extent, in the sense that though I had seen Vicky Donor when it was released, the Tamil remake is very engrossing with its own nuances, thanks to the deft directorial touches which stand out.

For the uninitiated, those who have not watched the Hindi original, Dharala Prabhu is basically about a shrewd fertility clinic owner Kannadasan (Vivek) who is able to convince an unemployed and happy-go-lucky guy (Harish Kalyan)  to become a sperm donor to earn is day to day livelihood.By the way, Harish  is a ‘footballer’ who is unemployed and plays five-a-side games, and aspires to land a job through sports quota from an employment exchange. The latter is not at all aware that it would land him in trouble post his marriage.Prabhu falls in love with Nidhi (Tanya Hope) and both decide to get hitched. After initial hiccups because of the different backgrounds of the two families, the couple gets a nod from their parents. But fate had other plans for Prabhu when he realizes that his relationship with Nidhi is on the verge of collapse because of his frequent sperm donation.

Perhaps the biggest minus point as well as the biggest plus point in the film is that the concept of sperm donation is seldom discussed, or does not come across as a major influencer across the storyline, except in only the link scenes. As far as performances go, Harish Kalyan fits perfectly to the T into a role which was effortlessly pulled off by Ayushmann Khurrana in the original version. He carries the naïve, boy-next-door character with ease and is able to instantly strike a very interesting chemistry with almost all the artistes in the film.

Tanya Hope is very cute and also able to get the right expressions which require an impact. But it is Vivek as Dr Kannadasan  who steals the show in many scenes, thanks to his one-liners and effortless performance, most of which seem to be improvised on his own. His character which has shades of ample comedy and emotion goes in sync with the script. Anupama and Sachu, too, come up with engaging performances.

To sum up, the film is a light film which has its own intense moments and is  palatable with a lot of its own entertainment quotient which definitely succeeds in making you think too and hits the right notes. Do not miss it at any cost on Amazon Prime Video!