OM trailer: Dhanush infiltrates smuggling gang, Sai Pallavi leads police operation

The trailer for O.M is out and offers a closer look at a crime drama set against the illegal red sandalwood trade in Andhra Pradesh. Released on Friday, the nearly three-minute trailer features Dhanush as an undercover police officer, Sai Pallavi as the IPS officer leading a high-stakes operation and Mammootty as a mysterious figure controlling the trade from behind the scenes.Written and directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Rajkumar Periasamy, the film follows a joint operation by the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police forces to dismantle a smuggling network in the Seshachalam forest region. The film will be released worldwide on November 20 in Tamil, along with dubbed versions in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. Dhanush plays an officer from Tamil Nadu's Organised Crime Intelligence Unit. He enters the smuggling syndicate disguised as a woodcutter, hoping to identify those running the network. The trailer shows him cutting wood, moving alongside the smugglers and gradually gaining their trust.His mission, however, does not appear straightforward. Several sequences show him seemingly fighting the police, leaving it unclear whether he is playing both sides or struggling to protect his cover. Sai Pallavi plays IPS officer Nithya Reddy, the head of Andhra Pradesh's Exclusive Special Task Force. She leads Operation Mole, which appears to provide the abbreviation used in the film's title, O.M. The operation carries the threat of turning deadly as the police close in on the smuggling network.The trailer's major reveal is Mammootty's character, Siya. He appears to be a politically powerful figure who controls the illegal red sandalwood trade from behind the scenes. The shades of grey in his character add another layer to the conflict between the police and the syndicate. The film draws from the real-world trade in red sanders, a rare and expensive wood found primarily in the Seshachalam hills of Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district. The wood is in high demand in countries such as China and Japan.The illegal trade has involved thousands of labourers from economically vulnerable communities in northern Tamil Nadu. Many have been drawn into dangerous work in the forests, sometimes with fatal consequences.Periasamy previously told Galatta Plus that the story was partly inspired by an incident from 2014. A 30-second video showing a two-and-a-half-year-old girl at a ceremony stayed with him for more than a decade. The image eventually became the emotional foundation of the script.Periasamy won the National Award for Best Director for Amaran. The cast of O.M also includes Sreeleela. Dhanush, Shraddha Agrawal and Azmat Jagmag are producing the film, which is backed by Wunderbar Films and RTake Studios.Delay in film releaseO.M was initially scheduled to arrive in theatres on October 16. Dhanush, who is also producing the film, announced that its release would be postponed out of respect for Rajinikanth's Jailer 2, which was due to open on October 15. The makers also stayed away from the Diwali release window to give Suriya's Scene a clear run.- Ends