This disease was the one which occurred during the time of Bodhidharma in China. Dong Lee arrives in Chennai and starts this operation by injecting a virus into a street dog. In modern-day China, Dong Lee (Johnny Tri Nguyen) is given the task of starting a government-planned biological war against India, known as Operation Red. Bodhidharma agrees to die and subsequently becomes a fundamental figure in Chinese history, affectionately being dubbed as “Damo”.
However, after several years, when he expresses his desire to return to India, the villagers plot to poison him and bury him near the temple, believing that their place would be disease free if he is buried there.
He begins to teach them how to cure many diseases, the skills of hypnotism, and the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan. Initially the people in China treat him as an inferior, but later, when he cures a little girl from the deadly disease and fights against some people who ill-treated villagers there, the people of China began to respect and worship him. He is sent to China by his guru, who requests him to stop the spread of a pandemic disease existing there from spreading to India. 7aum Arivu received mixed critical response upon release, and opened strongly at the box office.īodhidharma (Suriya), a master of martial arts and medical remedies, is the son of a great Tamil king of the Pallava dynasty. The visual effects for the film were done by US based Legacy effects, making this their second Indian film after Enthiran.
The film, produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin began production in May 2010 and was released on 25 October 2011 in Chennai and a day later, on Diwali, worldwide. Overall, ‘7aum Arivu’ with all those ingredients sufficient for a magnum opus falls short of its promise due to its lackluster screenplay and amateur execution.7aum Arivu (Eng: Seventh Sense) is a 2011 Indian science fiction-martial arts film written and directed by AR Murugadoss, featuring Suriya and Shruti Haasan in the lead roles and Johnny Tri Nguyen as the main antagonist. Dialogues are also impressive and deliver the message clearly then and there. Harris Jeyaraj’s compositions are rich in songs but are less evident in background music. Ravi.K.Chandran’s brilliant cinematography and Antony’s editing are valuable additions to the movie.
Finally the technical aspects of the movie go well hand in hand. Villain Johnny Tri Nguyen with his mere looks brings the much needed menace and fear. Her pronunciation could have been better but still is laudable for dubbing on her own. Shruthi Hasan having bagged a meaty role compared to her contemporaries has executed it with finesse. Suriya as usual has done a perfect job and has carried forward his role with ease. First is its unique theme, a new and definitely valuable addition to the Tamil cinema. The movie does have few admirable aspects. The stereotypic climax is also a major let down. Dong Lee’s hypnotic abilities could have been made to look more plausible rather than like mere black magic. Though there are few surprises now and then, they fail to create an impact owing to a lackluster screenplay with unnecessary love sequences and songs intersecting the main plot. The first twenty minutes of the movie displays master class but after that the movie falls prey to the usual commercial flick category. How these two incidents are related to each other and what happens to the operation have been answered in the rest of the movie. Meanwhile a path breaking research is being carried out in India by scientist Subha Srinivasan (Shruthi Hasan) for which Aravind (Suriya), a circus artist has a crucial role to play. From there it shifts to the present day China, where the Chinese government sends agent Dong Lee (Johnny Tri Nguyen) to execute a deadly operation against India. The story opens with a brief portrayal of the life of Bodhidharma (Suriya).
Releasing amidst all these hype and hoopla, did ‘7aum arivu’ deliver what it promised? These expectations were catapulted to the next level when Murugadoss during the audio launch of the movie announced that the movie is partly inspired by the life history of Bodhidharma aka Damo, a Tamil Pallava prince who went to China and later became a Buddhist monk and a master and creator of Shaolinquan. Murugadoss, Suriya, Harris Jeyaraj and Udayanidhi Stalin joining hands and reports carrying news that the movie is a medical science thriller with a never before heard storyline, the expectations were as high as the budget of the movie. With Tamil cinema’s most famous names like A.R. Right from the day of its announcement, ‘7aum arivu’ never failed to make the headlines of cinema columns frequently for one thing or the other.