Bodhidharman followers turn against 7aam Arivu

It seems Suriya’s latest release ’7aam Arivu’ is controversy’s child. Recently, the film ran into trouble when the Sri Lanka Government did not permit to screen the movie in their country citing there are some dialogues that indirectly refers to the fight for Tamil Ezham and the defeat of the Tamil fighters at the hands of Sri Lankan Government.

The Sri Lankan Government also insisted to remove the objectionable dialogues from the film. Bowing to pressure, the makers deleted the ‘objectionable’ parts and the film is being screened all over the Island country.

Now the film is facing a stiff opposition from the followers of Buddhist monk Bodhidharman. They claimed that the movie which shows historically inaccurate information on Bodhidharma’s life, has hurt the values and sentiments of the Buddishts.

In a press conference on Saturday, Buddhist Teacher Babu T Raghu said that he cannot tolerate such inaccurate information.

‘Bodhidharman was 150 years when he arrived at Canton in China and not a 25-year-old body builder as depicted by Suriya in the movie,’ he said.

“I am basing my objections on eight years of study and 34 years of practice of Buddhism, my community cannot tolerate such insults to someone we sincerely worship. I respect the filmmakers and Surya, but they must not claim that their movie is a historical account of Bodhidharma’s life,” he added.

He further added that, a hunger strike is being discussed by followers of Bodhidharma throughout the country and legal options like filing a PIL.