Dharma Yuddham

Dharma Yuddham
Dharma Yuddham
	Poster
Directed by	R. C. Sakthi
Story by	Peter Selvakumar
Produced by	T. R. Srinivasan
Starring	Rajinikanth; Sridevi; Thengai Srinivasan
Cinematography	N. Balakrishnan
Edited by	G. Radhakrishnan
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production; company	Charusuchithra Films
Release date	29 June 1979;
Running time	134 Minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Dharma Yuddam (transl. War for honour) is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by R. C. Sakthi. It stars Rajinikanth and Sridevi. The film was released on 29 June 1979.^[1]

Plot

Vijay's parents are killed by Robert. He is adopted and brought up by Thiyagarajan. He comes to love Thiyagarajan's daughter as his own sister. He becomes a successful, soft-spoken, kind yet reclusive business man and is sought by Chitra for an interview. They fall in love while Manju, his sister, falls in love with a photographer. Though initially against the match, Vijay realizes that his sister's lover is hardworking, sincere and is not after money. All seems to go well until one day Manju is found dead near the pier.

Robert, their family friend, is an illegal organ trader and sells custom requested eyes. He is the one who has kidnapped and killed Manju. Vijay has a weakness. On full moon night, he has an alter-ego that takes over which is extremely violent, overtly strong and incredibly dangerous as it was the day he lost his biological family. This was Vijay's biggest secret which he hid from everybody except for Chithra, whom he trusted and loved. His adoptive father and later, his sister chain him up in a room to ensure he does not hurt others and more importantly himself. When Vijay finds out that Robert has been stealing eyes and is responsible for all the deaths, he goes after him but is overpowered by Robert's henchmen. While Robert was completing his last ever deal, the full moon rises and Vijay, in his alter-ego, kills every single one of them in rage. He is acquitted both on account of his condition and that the dead are criminals.

Cast

Rajinikanth as Vijay^[2]
Sridevi as Chitra^[2]
Manorama
Thengai Srinivasan as Robert^[2]
Major Sundarrajan as Thiyagarajan
Suruli Rajan as Vijay's friend
S. A. Ashokan as Azhagappan
V. Gopalakrishnan as Dr. Amarnath
Sachu as Geetha
Pushpalatha as Chitra's mother
S. R. Veeraraghavan as Ramanathan
Jaggu as Henchman
Lakshmi Sree as Manju
Master Chandrasekar as Child vijay
Y. G. Mahendran (guest appearance)
Selvaraj
Chakkaravarthi

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ilaiyaraaja.^[3]^[4] The song, "Oru Thanga Radhathil" is set in Mohanam raga and "Aagaya Gangai" is set in Madhyamavati.^[5]^[6]

Track listing
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Oru Thanga Radhathil"	Kannadasan	Malaysia Vasudevan	4:27
2.	"Aagaya Gangai"	M. G. Vallabhan	Malaysia Vasudevan, S. Janaki	4:38
3.	"Ada Poya"	Kannadasan	S. P. Sailaja	4:45
4.	"Disco Sound"	Hari	Hari, Ramola	3:34
Total length:				17:24

Reception

Medical accuracy

Daniel, a consulting psychiatrist, criticised the lead character's condition, that he becomes invincible and violent on a full moon night, as a medically inaccurate myth, noting its similarities to werewolf theories.^[7]