7am Arivu... A big film with huge expectations thanks to the coming together of 3 names, that is Suriya-AR Murugadoss-Harris Jeyaraj trio and in addition, some of the best technicians in the Indian film industry. Though the movie started off with big expectations, nothing was told to the outside until the audio was launched, where the trailer of the film was released along. The trailer took the expectations several notches higher and there was no stopping marketing wise. The fans were bombarded with new news each and everyday until the release. What really made the proceedings intriguing was the revealing of the Bodhidharma character which the film revolves around. A mystical man from Tamil Nadu who was totally forgotten about in his homeland whereas in the other side of the world, he is being revered as nothing less than a GOD and the founder of martial arts. So, how did all this build-up work?
Starting off with the cast. Suriya was exceptional in his hard-work and tremendous effort to bring out the role of Bodhidharma. Be it his opening shots as the Pallava King and the transformation of the character into "Damo". He was majestic in his opening shot as the king and he brings the needed stillness and calmness for the role of the monk. His hard-work shows off in the stunt sequences, be it the fight scenes in the Chinese village or the climax sequence. Not to forget, the tricks he learned for the circus artist role as well. Bravo and hats-off to him for pushing the boundaries of Tamizh cinema heroes in putting efforts for their characters. Shruti Haasan's made her Tamizh debut here and she does justice to her role and has the intelligent look needed for her scientist character Subha. Good work on her side for working on the Tamizh syllables and difficult words. She can be the daughter of "Ulaganayakan" but it is unfair to expect her to speak as flawlessly as her father. Anyways, a decent debut for her and it is a welcome relief to see heroines getting plum roles, which in case nearly equal to the hero. Johnny Tri Nguyen, does what is expected of him and being an expert in martial arts, he does his role well but there was some kind of stiffness around him. All the other character roles were performed appropriately.
As mentioned earlier, this film has some of the best technicians in the Indian cinema and their talent can be seen in the film. Shabina Khan' and Anuvardhan's costume work was apt for the film and kept simple. The VFX team did a good job with the opening shot of the 'Gurukulam' depicted early in the film. Cinematographer Ravi K.Chandran, one of the best and most wanted in Indian film industry, is a huge asset to the film. His work is top-notch and his stamp of work i evident throughout the film but certainly the opening 20 minutes shot in China has some beautiful colors and views and the climax scene as well with various different shots and angles. Proves he is one of the best. Another major role player is Rajeevan. His artwork is impressive and helps bring the story to life. The village erected in China, Kancheepuram "Gurukulam", the science laboratory, the circus props everything needed big amount of effort and work and his team has pulled it off brilliantly. Will be one of his best in his entire career. Anthony could have done little bit better in the editing, especially with the length of the film but more of it later. His work in the climax fight was classy. Peter Hein had put in lots of research from his part as well and it shows off here with the superbly choreographed Chinese village and climax fight sequences.
Coming to the songs, Harris Jeyaraj has disappointed his fans with average songs this time. Most of the songs have a heard before feel to it and do not really excites the audiences. Though the songs are average,the picturization were unique. "Oh Ringa Ringa" has an incredible concept of having 1000 dancers under at the same time under the guidance of choreographer Shobi, and that too with Suriya in a heavily crowded public places. It was a commendable job and the crane shot was well used but the song doesn't really reflect the grandeur of having 1000 dancers and many close up shots were used instead. "Mun Andhi" is a slow romantic number, picturized in Krabi Islands of Thailand. Beautiful close up's of Shruti and Suriya and many different shots such as under water camera and helicopter shots were implemented. "Yellae Lamma" meanwhile was done in Hong Kong and different colour shades were attempted, giving it a cool and chilled out look. "Yamma Yamma", a pathos song was picturized solely on Suriya's emotions and Ravi K.Chandran's tilt-and shift method was put to good use and the train station set erected by Rajeevan was near perfect. "Innum Enna Thozha" and "The Rise of Damo" was done in montage sequences and were used to establish the proceedings of the screenplay.
Captain of this big 'ship' AR Murugadoss deserves a big,big round of applause for the amount of work and research he had to put, to come up with this script and above all to deliver a thumping and necessary and timely message, interwoven in the script, to the watching audiences. But there is one BIG fault in the script and that is the length of the film. He had a brilliant concept, which is very hard to be made into a regular Tamizh commercial cinema and he tried his best in coming up with one but he fails to execute it perfectly. Murugadoss's previous films like "Dheena", "Ramana" and "Ghajini" all had fast and thrilling screenplays but here, though the thrill is there, he drags it too much with unnecessary elements. The "attempted" romance track between Suriya and Shruti didn't work out as there was no proper chemistry between them and it was not necessary to the film and thanks to this "attempt" songs were churned out and were thrust into the film and the placing of the songs were ill-timed. Besides that, the "Nokkuvarmam" or hypnotism issue was over-used, especially with the long-drawn out car stunts scene.The film did start off in a fantastic manner, depicting the journey of Bodhidharma in a documentary manner with over-voice. The film then loses the grip it had on the audience after that and we had to wait for sometime until a drama comes up and sadly the pace drops few times and had to be picked up later on as the film progresses. This slows the screenplay badly and leaves the audience feeling exhausted and stretched. It is not wrong to dream of a many interesting concepts but it is very difficult to put a few of them in one single film and this is where Murugadoss falters by failing to come up with a tight screenplay. Life and times of Bodhidharma, the historical facts on ancient culture of Tamizh people, mysterious martial arts skills, scientific research advancements, political issues aided by bio-warfare, backdrop of circus environment, all these is a bit too much for audience to ponder upon at a time. Even if its possible, then the commercial aspects should have been compromised. Commercialism doesn't work all the time audiences do have matured a bit to accept realistic cinema and Murugadoss should have boldly moved away from thrusting in regular commercial elements. Scientific-logic issues gave way in the end to accommodate commercial sentiments, so that the take-away message can be sent across loudly.
In conclusion, 7am Arivu is a good film which could have been much, much, much better and salutes to AR Murugadoss for his thumping message.
Ratings: 3/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
