He was not a Himalayan yogi nor a wandering mendicant from the Ganges plains. According to the Chronicles of the Transmission of the Lamp , he was Prince Bodhidharma of the Pallava dynasty—a king’s son from Kanchipuram, the ancient city of gold and silk.

Imagine that cinematic logline: A 6th-century Tamil prince, heir to a throne of temple builders, abandons his sword to sail across the Bay of Bengal, walk through the jungves of China, and stare at a cave wall for nine years.

The final act is not a battle against a villain, but against dogma. He defeats an army of bandits not with a sword, but by absorbing their blows without flinching—the "Iron Shirt" technique. Who can play Bodhidharma? He needs the stoic fury of a warrior and the empty calm of a Buddha. Dhanush, with his intense eyes and wiry frame, could capture the ascetic's fire. Alternatively, a pan-Indian star like Prabhas (with a Tamil accent coach) could bring the required scale.