Om trailer: Mammootty’s antagonist role and Dhanush’s cop avatar surprise fans

Chennai: The makers of director Rajkumar Periasamy’s eagerly awaited action entertainer Om, featuring actors Dhanush and Mammootty in the lead roles, have released a gripping trailer that has surprised fans and audiences.

Contrary to what audiences were initially led to believe, Dhanush plays a member of an intelligence unit constituted by the Tamil Nadu Police to deal with organised crime. The trailer also springs another surprise by revealing that Mammootty plays the antagonist in the film.

Wunderbar Films, one of the production houses behind the film, took to X to share the trailer link. It wrote, “Apologies for the delay, and it’s now time to unleash the mayhem. #OM TRAILER OUT NOW. Coming to the screens worldwide on November 20. A @Rajkumar_KP Film.”

The trailer begins with the makers pointing out that “Some of these things actually happen…”. The story is set between two temple towns. A crime is being committed against nature, and the police consider those involved to be like wild animals. To track them down and bring them to justice, the Andhra Pradesh Police constitute a Special Task Force (STF), led by Nithya Reddy (Sai Pallavi). She leads an operation to infiltrate the network involved in Red Sanders smuggling and codenames it ‘OM’ (Operation Mole).

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Police have a specialised team called the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU) to deal with the problem. The trailer reveals that Dhanush is part of this unit. He is referred to as D 402 and has a wife and child whose identities are unknown to the outside world.

Interestingly, contrary to earlier expectations, Mammootty plays the antagonist in the film. He portrays Red Hills Karthikeyan, the man behind the organised crime network.

Only recently, the makers revealed that actress Sai Pallavi plays an IPS officer named Nithya Reddy in the film. Sreeleela, who plays Dhanush’s wife, portrays a character named Roja.

The film is slated to hit theatres on November 20.

The makers had originally planned to release the film on October 16. However, actor Dhanush announced its postponement in a statement, saying that they had decided to defer the release out of respect for Superstar Rajinikanth, whose film Jailer 2 was scheduled to hit theatres on October 15.

Dhanush also clarified that the film would not be released during Deepavali, as Suriya’s film had already been announced for the festive period. The actor and producer later announced November 20 as the release date.

The film has generated considerable interest among fans and film buffs as it marks the first collaboration between Dhanush and Mammootty.

Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah is also part of the film. The title carries the tagline ‘Chapter 1’, indicating the possibility of a sequel.

Wunderbar Films head Sreyas, speaking at the title teaser launch event, had disclosed that the film would be one of the biggest-budget productions in Dhanush’s career. He had also said that it would bring back the vintage mass entertainer image of Dhanush that fans had long wanted to see.

The film features Sai Pallavi and Sreeleela as the female leads, with music by Sai Abhyankkar. Ezhil Arasu is handling cinematography, Kalaivanan R is the editor, and Kavya Sriram is the costume designer.