In the film, a medical student enlists the help of a circus artist, who is a descendant of Bodhidharma, to revive the legend's skills and knowledge, while a Chinese mercenary with hypnotic powers starts a government-planned biological war against India.
[6] Bodhidharma, a master of martial arts and medical remedies, is the son of a great Indian king of the Pallava dynasty.
However, when he cures a little girl infected by the disease and defeats people who ill-treated the villagers, the Chinese then began to respect and worship him.
He begins to teach them how to cure many diseases, the skills of hypnotism, and the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan.
Bodhidharma agrees to die and subsequently becomes a fundamental figure in Chinese history, affectionately being dubbed as "Damo".
In modern-day China, Dong Lee, a soldier working for the Chinese government, is given the task of starting a government-planned biological war against India, dubbed as Operation Red.
Subha goes to her genetics department and announces that Operation Red can be stopped if they read and make use of the cures in a book written by Bodhidharma.
After some time, she and Aravind learn that her professor from the genetics department is assisting Dong Lee in Operation Red.
The next day, the professor is caught red-handed by Aravind, Subha, and her friends Ashwin, Imran, Malathi and Nisha but surrenders and explains that he received a huge sum of money from the Chinese government to carry out Operation Red.
Aravind uses an ancient medicine to cure the disease, marries Subha and finally tells the press about the importance of Indian history.
[7][8] Initial reports suggested that Suriya would play three characters; a circus artist,[9] a scientist and a Buddhist monk, for a portion set in China in the 5–6th century.
[10] However, it was clarified that the scientist's role would be performed by the female lead, Shruti Haasan,[11] while Suriya would play a modern-day circus artist as well as Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th century.
[24] Suriya underwent physical training for a kung fu sequence within 16 days, following cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran's request.
[25] Shabina Khan designed the costumes for Suriya and Shruti, staying with the team throughout the filming process in Bangkok and Hong Kong.
[31] The album was released by Sony Music on 22 September 2011 at a launch event held in Chennai Trade Centre.
[47] N. Venkateswaran of The Times of India rated the film 3 stars out of 5, saying, "If the movie deserves a look, it is only because of the ever-dependable Suriya" and criticised Shruti Haasan's dialogue delivery.
[49] Reviewing the Telugu-dubbed version, Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film three out of five and wrote that "7th Sense is an example for a big-star-cast-huge-budgeted movie that looks wonderful on the paper, but falters in the execution.
According to researchers, he had travelled from India to China with the main intention of propagating Buddhism and his portrayal as a man with "medicinal knowledge" and his expertise at "martial arts" were not well received by the viewers who claimed that the film gives too much emphasis on his identity as a Tamilian rather than highlighting the other facts.
[53] Babu T. Raghu, a Buddhist teacher, noted in a press conference that the monk was 150 years old when he reached China, while in the film they had depicted him in his 20s.
Babu added that he had material evidence to prove it, while sparking off a hunger strike across the country on Bodhidharma's followers.