7am Arivu

Language: Tamil

Actors: Suriya, Shruti Hassan, Johnny Tri Nguyen

Director: A R Murugadoss

The first 30 minutes moves like a documentary, one of those “The floods of Bihar” or “The visit of the Indian prime minister to Zambia we would have seen in the 80's before the start of a movie. Those are the 30 minutes spent to tell us who the principal protagonist of the movie is, Bodhidharma.

And then come a group of Chinese plotting against India and one woman who stands between their plots success or failure. And then of course the protagonist who will ensure the plot failed, his DNA, research lab, 3-4 songs and then the usual vanquishing the antagonist and the end.

The film starts okay but then nosedives to abysmal depths. Only Ravi K Chandran’s camera work and some slick stunts, thanks to Peter Hein and Suriya & Johnny’s acting skills are things worth a mention. Murgadoss even tries the tested formula of infusing / invoking the Tamilian pride but the attempt falls flat as one can’t understand what pride he’s talking about.

Let’s get one thing right, we are talking about someone who lived in the 5th or 5th century AD. At that point in time there wasn’t any Tamil Nadu (Tamil Nadu or Tamilian came into being only in the 50’s when the linguistic splitting of states happened). So there couldn’t have been a Tamilian and hence any attempt to colour anyone who lived in that era as a Tamilian is a convoluted argument (he was a Pallavan citizen who spoke Tamil, get that right). That is the argument our Dravidian politicians make to fool us. At max the only thing common between us and Bodhidharman is the language Tamil.

He is supposed to be a master in Charaka’s medicinal science – Charaka is not from any of the Tamil speaking kingdoms. He is supposed to be as expert Kalari practitioner – Kalari is a martial arts form from our neighbouring Kerala (we have Purananuru texts that say this art form was practiced in the Chera, Chola & Pandiya kingdoms). He is supposedly a Buddhist monk – Buddhism isn’t a phenomenon that originated from Tamil speaking kingdoms. So just because he came from a Tamil speaking kingdom we try to sell him as a great Tamil icon and invoke Tamil pride ? Isn’t that stretching the rubber a bit too far ??

The director could have invested in 2 or even 3 new faces (who could act) as heroine for the money he would have paid Shruti Hassan. Shruti Hassan reminds me of Rohan Gavaskar, talented father. Everyone can’t be as gifted as Rahul Gandhi, gifted with the ability to pull cotton wool over the eyes of the general public. We have already seen her music direction skills, now acting. She should apprentice with T Rajender to expand her horizons and prolong her film career.

There is nothing else one can talk about in this movie.

Watch it if you really want.