The trailer for “7aum Arivu,” which was launched amidst much fanfare at the Chennai Trade Center last week was confusing and intriguing in equal measure. If the immediate response from the die-hard fans of the lead actor Suriya and the director A.R. Murugadoss, who were gathered at the auditorium was anything to go by, the magnum opus is well set to take top-billing at the box office on Deepavali next month.
The trailer that starts off with the question “Who is Bodhidharman?” was launched by National-award-winning actor Dhanush along with Udhayanidhi Stalin, who has produced the film under the ‘Red Giant Movies' banner.
The trailer, running just under two minutes, featured Suriya in what appears to be dual (or multiple) roles, one of which is that of the saffron-robed Buddhist monk Bodhidharman, who is acknowledged by scholars to have been a prince born in Kanchipuram and who travelled to China after embracing Buddhism.
The “7aum Arivu” team though kept the cards close to their chests. A.R. Murugadoss said the film traced the history of the Silk Route between India and China. “As to what else went from India to China, one has to wait and watch the movie on the big screen,” he said, and added that his team had made every effort to make the film a cause of pride for Tamils the world over. It is said to combine the genres of a historical, science fiction and medical thriller.
Actor Suriya, while answering a question from his brother and actor Karthi, one of the special invitees for the evening, said he had undergone severe physical hardships in order to effectively portray the historical character of Bodhidharman. “This is a character based on a person who is revered for being a monk. Every hardship undertaken was well worth it,” he said. The striking martial arts pose on the posters clearly shows that.
Karthi said he had never seen Suriya work as hard for a film before. Apart from learning juggling and circus acts, he also underwent a 15-day special martial arts training in Hong Kong before the shoot.
Another special invitee of the evening was actor Johnny Tri Nguyen, a Vietnam-born U.S. citizen, who is playing the role of the antagonist. In fact, Johnny's quicksilver martial arts moves cover a sizeable portion of the trailer, even more than Suriya's. The actor has appeared in a few international martial arts films, including the Thailand star Tony Jaa's smash international hit “Tom-Yum-Goong”. He was also the body double for Tobey Maguire in “Spider-Man”, performing the stunts under the superhero costume. As Karthi pointed out, Suriya's martial arts training was prompted entirely by the versatile martial art star he is pitted against in the film.
Shruti Hasan, who is going to be introduced in Tamil through “7aum Arivu” thanked Suriya and A.R. Murugadoss for their support.
The “real hero of the evening,” as the entire “7aum Arivu” team pointed out, was music director Harris Jayaraj. After the Tamil version of “Ghajini” in 2005, he is back to composing music for A.R. Murugadoss. The album has six songs, including a Chinese song ‘Rise of Damo' written by Madhan Karky. A.R. Murugadoss said the song ‘Innum Enna Thozha', was a song that would unite Tamils the world over.
