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Chat with Dharani
 This is a director who has delivered a hat-trick at the box office -- a rare phenomenon in the history of Tamil cinema.
Dhill, Dhool and Gillie are the three films that had the cash registers ringing and catapulted the film's heroes to stardom. Vikram reached the pinnacle while Vijay laid his claim for the top position with Gillie.
Dharani did his graduation -- B A English Literature from Loyola College in Chennai -- and was a Gold Medallist of the Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu. Initially, he entered the film industry hoping to be an actor. However, he took to other facets.
He worked with Mani Ratnam in all his projects from Dil Sey to Alaipayuthey. It was a wonderful learning experience for him. Having learnt a lot from Mani Ratnam, when Dharani started making movies, he utilised this knowledge and adapted it to his own style of film-making.
Dhill
starring Vikram and Jothika, was one of the biggest box-office hits seen by the Tamil film industry. He won a bronze statue fom the Ad Club for the trailer he made for the film. The success of the film led to re-makes in Telugu and Hindi.
He went on to make Dhool, the biggest hit of 2003. It broke all records. Starring Vikram and Jothika and produced by A M Ratnam, it was also re-made in Telugu, Veedae, which was also a runaway hit.
Dharani was also successful in making ad films and corporate films.
Then came Gillie, with Vijay and Trisha, again produced by Ratnam. This was a mega hit, and Vijay is almost a super star now.
On the magic formula of his films, Dharani believes his movies have a little bit of everything with a strong current of emotion that runs right through.
Dharani believes that a script is important for a film, but not the most important one. A film should have emotion and good content. He takes great care in doing all the preliminaries, in a meticulous fashion. Yet, though hs scenes are well thought-out and even pre-planned, he improvises on the spot and gives the freedom and the necessary space to the actors and actresses to improvise too.
After Yethurum Puthuram and Dhill, came Dhool with the Dhill cast of Vikram and Jothika. Although it was a commercial film with plenty of comedy, action and romance, but the undercurrent of emotion was felt.
In Dhool, Dharani shot some scenes keeping in mind the possibility of using DTS sound. Just like in the film, Far and Away, Tom Cruise and the heroine go into a house, and as the silence is deep, the gentlest tingling of the crystals can be heard, here too, DTS helps enhance the powerful silence.
Film editing, with the advent of Avid Non-linear editing systems, has greatly enhanced the technical qualities in the Tamil film industry, says Dharani. He had his first experience with the non-linear system during the post-production of 'Dil Se'.
There was need for greater training of technicians in the Tamil film industry to improve and enhance their skills, feels
Dharani.
There was tremendous potential for the makers of Tamil films to expand their horizons. The sky is the limit, feels
Dharani.
LIVE CHAT WITH DHARANI ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 AT 6.30 P.M.
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