Dheena is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by then-debutante AR Murugadoss, starring Ajith Kumar, Suresh Gopi, in his Tamil debut, and Laila in the lead roles. The music and background score is composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography by K. Aravind, it was released on 14 January 2001 and garnered positive reviews from critics and audiences, the film emerged as a huge commercial success and it was declared a blockbuster hit at the box office. The movie was remade in Bengali as Deva and in Kannada as Dhumm.
Plot
The film starts with the police arresting Aadhikesavan's men as suspects for burning MLA Malarvannan's liquor shop. Aadhi sends Dheenadhayalan aka Dheena, his adopted brother, to attack the false witnesses in this case and bail them out. This leads to further conflicts between Adhi, Dheena and Malarvannan and Dheena ends up chopping off Malarvannan's hand. Meanwhile, Dheena falls in love with a girl named Chitra. After a little bit of pursuing and getting to know one another, they fall in love and when Chitra comes to know that Dheena is involved in rowdyism, she stands by her decision to be with him because of Dheena's basic good character. Meanwhile, Dheena comes to know that Ashok has teased his sister Shanthi and thrashes him. A little later, he finds that Ashok has again given a love letter to Shanthi and beats him up, but comes to know that he is Chitra's brother. Chitra tells that Shanthi is also in love with Ashok, Dheena realizes this misunderstanding and agrees to help them get married. Finding difficulties in obtaining Aadhi's permission, Shanthi elopes with Ashok and gets critically injured in an accident. In the hospital, Shanthi asks for Dheena's promise to protect Ashok's family from Aadhi before she succumbs to her injuries. Aadhi, enraged by his sister's death, orders Dheena to kill the family of Ashok. But Dheena refuses and tells that Shanthi was also in love with him. Aadhi refuses to believe this and misunderstands the reason for Dheena's refusal to obey him is since he loves the boy's sister Chitra. Aadhi swears that he will kill everyone responsible for this including Dheena and the brothers become sworn enemies. Dheena moves to Chitra's flat to protect her family but Ashok is intimidated and does not believe his intentions. Aadhi kills one of Ashok's friend and lands in jail. But Dheena continues to protect the family at various instances from Aadhi's men and they all understand Dheena's good intentions. Aadhi gets released and orders his men to kill Dheena and Chitra's family. The MLA Malarvannan finds about the brothers' enmity and tries to join hands with Aadhi to get his revenge on Dheena, but Aadhi refuses to get him involved. Malarvannan, however is determined to get his revenge on Dheena and sends his henchmen under the guise that they all belong to Aadhi's group. Dheena finds out about this and fights them off but Malarvannan's men stab Chitra. Meanwhile, Aadhi comes to know about Shanthi's love for Ashok from some of her friends and realizes his mistake and joins forces with Dheena once again and fights off Malarvannan and his men. Knowing that Malarvannan was responsible for this, Aadhi tries to kill him, but Dheena stops him and tells that if he kills him, someone would avenge and this chain could continue and asks him to stop the violence. Chitra recovers from her injuries and finds that Aadhi has accepted their family. Aadhi finally declares Dheena to be his brother hereafter and they are all united.
The film's director A. R. Murugadoss had previously worked as an assistant to S. J. Surya, first cast Prashanth in this movie but he rejected the film. Next ARM cast Ajith Kumar and signed up Ajith to play the lead roles with Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi roped in to play a parallel supporting role. The team considered signing Vasundhara Das as the lead actress, before opting for Laila. Nagma was selected to appear in an item number. In 2020, Laila revealed how she felt wan't feeling well during the shooting of "Kadhal Website", but the upbeat tune of the song encouraged her to dance and the song became a hit upon release.
Release
The film received a positive review from The Hindu, with the critic stating that the "acts of the hero does appeal or impress the audience because his bloody adventures in the film are justifiable" labelling the film as a mass masala entertainer. Rediff.com suggested that "overall, the film is briskly paced, and holds your interest throughout. What prompts the 'Can do better' report are the little, but eminently avoidable, niggles." but praised the performances of Ajith Kumar and Suresh Gopi. Another critic said, "Dheena, while not offering anything new, plays it safe by offering something for everybody. A story that involves a nice conflict, a cute romance, well-choreographed dance sequences, nicely-staged fight sequences and humorous mass dialogues are the recipe for this entertaining mixture with commercial elements".
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and released on 23 December 2000. The songs proved to be very successful upon release and established him slowly in the Tamil film industry.
Legacy
The film's success indirectly marked the beginning of a new image of Ajith Kumar, that of an action hero that would appeal tothe masses. Furthermore, Ajith Kumar's nickname in the film, Thala became a new identity for the actor amongst his fans. The film also established Murugadoss who went on to become one of the successful directors whereas Yuvan Shankar's songs were equally successful which are considered to have played a major role for the film's great success.
Remakes
The movie was remade in Bengali as Deva and in Kannada as Dhumm.
