Dharani (director)

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Dharani is a popular South India based film director, credited with 3 action movies. Some criticize him for the commercial movie he makes and consider him as an entertainer than a serious director.His real name is Ramani.

1 Career
2 Career as a director
3 Filmography
4 External links

[edit] Career

He was assistant to director R V Udayakumar. When Dharani worked in Yajamaan directed by R V Udayakumar, he was the one who introduced the swishing sound Rajni's angavastram made, each time he wore it around his neck. This style with the long-stride walk became a Rajni trademark since then. First there was his polio-afflicted leg which was difficult to overcome.

[edit] Career as a director

He directed a movie Edhirum Pudhirum with Malayalam megastar Mammootty.It was made at a time when Mammootty had a success streak in Kollywood too. But financial constraints and political controversies(It seemed to be loosely based on forest brigand Veerappan and his younger brother's death) ensured its delayed release(1999) when Mammooty had by that time preferred to act only in Malayalam films. But it received critical acclaim and was awarded the Second Best Film award by the Tamil Nadu state government. However luck seemed to have favoured him as his college friend Vikram who became famous after Sethu asked his producer T.Rama Rao to have Dharani as his director. The result was Dhill(2001) which turned out to be a big hit and also made Vikram a bankable star. His next Dhool(2003) again with Vikram along with Jyothika turned out to be a mega hit and Vikram virtually became the saviour of Kollywood as all the January releases of that year were flops. Its producer A.M.Ratnam once again called him to make Ghilli;(a remake of Mahesh Babu's megahit "Okkadu").Ghilli went on to become the biggest hit of 2004 and resurrected Vijay's career. However ; his latest Telugu release Bangaram (gold) made with Pawan Kalyan in the lead for A.M.Ratnam turned out to be a damp squib at the box-office. He is expecting his friend Vikram to help him in Kollywood after failing in his Telugu venture Bangaram.