Dharala Prabhu, directed by debutant Krishna Marimuthu is the official Tamil remake of the critically and commercially acclaimed film Vicky Donor. Dharala Prabhu stars Harish Kalyan, Vivekh and Tanya Hope in the lead roles. This film is produced by Screen Scene Entertainment.
The film opens with Kannadasan (Vivekh), a fertility doctor looking for a potent sperm donor to aid his business, wherein he helps his infertile patients. After a couple of monotonous and pretentious sequences involving Kannadasan trying to dig deeper into getting the right donor, he finds his 'gold' in Prabhu (Harish Kalyan), an unemployed footballer with the perfect characteristics for sperm donation. How this association changes the life of an initially ignorant Prabhu is what the film deals with.
Firstly, the combination of Vivekh and Harish works wonders for this film. As an advantage, the lead pair of Harish and Tanya Hope is extremely pleasing to the eye. Their romance is dealt with in a very mature manner and both of them do justice to their parts. The writing is quite impressive, as most of the arcs are well defined and all pivotal characters are written with sincerity.
Considering the fact that this is a remake of a highly successful film, director Krishna's conviction to not tamper with the basics is commendable. Tanya Hope playing Nidhi and Anupama Kumar as Prabhu's mother have solid roles to play and their work is laudable.
Dr. Kannadasan's over-the-top behavior and extremely funny one-liners (sometimes double-meaning) is one of the biggest entertaining factors of the film. There were some jokes from Vivekh's side that might seem to be crossing a line and shaming. Nevertheless, Vivekh also scores some tiny emotional moments with just a mild expression or a glance. Going on to prove his worth as an experienced performer. Prabhu is shown to have a gang of friends in the beginning, but, slowly their importance fizzles out and they're seen only during important occasions of his life.
Emotions play an important role in this film and the second half is filled with some really well-made moments. Kudos to the director for finding the right mix between the comedy and the emotional quotient of the film. On this front, Harish Kalyan's measured act and ability to deliver the expressions on the right meter is satisfying to watch.
Multiple composers that include the likes of Anirudh Ravichander, Sean Roldan, Vivek-Mervin, Inno Genga, and a host of other independent bands and artists have made contributions to the soundtrack of this film. With songs coming back-to-back, the musical treatment is highly commendable. However, the lack of a weighty background score is a slight disappointment. Selvakumar SK's cinematography and Kripakaran's cuts are in-sync and don't mess with the flow of the film at any point.
The film takes up a noble subject at its core and despite being a remake that comes after eight years, the fresh treatment and good performances keep us invested in the movie. On the whole, Dharala Prabhu is a faithful remake that tickles you throughout, while still touching your sensitive nerves.
Dharala Prabhu is available on Amazon Prime Video