BANGALORE: The Tamil movie ‘7am Arivu’ directed by A R Murugadoss, has hurt the sentiments of the followers of Buddhist monk Bodhidharma.
In a press conference on Saturday, Buddhist Teacher Babu T Raghu said that while he has no complaint against creativity and fiction, a disclaimer should have been mentioned in the film. “They are claiming it to be historically accurate while it is not, I have texts to prove it,” he claimed while lashing out at the promoters for trying to market the movie as an accurate depiction of Bodhidharma’s life.
"He 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 added.
Raghu went on to point out many instances in the movie which according to him are historically inaccurate. “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 said.
He stated that he was ready for a debate with the filmmakers should they wish to dispute the facts and said that he would be dispatching a protest letter to them soon. Also being discussed is a hunger strike by followers of Bodhidharma throughout the country and legal options like filing a PIL.