Political One Manship: Dharmayogi Full Movie Review

Among his contemporaries, Dhanush‘s box-office standing is presently the most unenviable. Back in Chennai, with Vijay Sethupathi, Sivakarthikeyan, Ajit Kumar, Vikram, Vishal and Vijay having more releases and higher scoring chances at the box-office in 2016, Dhanush must surely have been anxious about the fate of his latest bilingual Diwali flick. More so, when his last film ‘Rail’- yet another Tamil-Telugu release, derailed at the box-office.

With his latest, Dhanush seems to have taken no chances. Suitably mixing a series of sub-plots into a politico-crime thriller, he plays a double role, one that of a hyperactive political party volunteer and the other a lecturer in a local college. Battling it out among ambitious partymen to protect his slot and keep himself in the good books of the leader, Dhanush essays his role with the right kind of swag, the make-up and the dialogue delivery to go with it.

Placing the heroine (Trisha) as his rival in the opposing party, the director lends a zip to the romantic interludes which happen between them. However, ambition overrides amorous tendencies for the leading lady who manages to get the better of the hero and maintains a momentum ahead of him throughout.

How the second Dhanush, his emotionally-highstrung mother Saranya and lady love Anupama Parameshwaran manage to take charge of this intense competitive warfare and play it out to its logical end is what the film turns out to be.

A long time player in the southern film market, Trisha is cool as she takes up her role as a self-centred neta who wants her work done at any cost, reminding people of recent examples in modern politics. In fact, she takes up good screen space to establish her character, which enables the hero to later combat her right till the climax.

Drawing from real life incidents, which have ended up affecting the environment in many parts of South India, the film shows how the nexus between the politicians and the industrial lobbies never seem to die.

In fact, this film too revolves around one such development, which takes the better half of the proceedings, post-interval. The proceedings are gripping, the interplay between the rival camps is intense and tension-laden, much like what one sees in such situations in modern times.

Dhanush is a pure delight for his fans and the heroines too do a good job. In all, a watchable fare.

Cast: Dhanush,Trisha, Anupama Parameswaran
Direction: RS Durai Senthilkumar
Genre: Action-thriller
Good: Dhanush in a dynamic double role, Trisha with a notable presence
Bad: known tale
Rating: 2.5