Tamil superstar Suriya who turns 46 today couldn’t have hoped for a better birthday gift than the National award for his performance in Sudha Kongra’s Soorarai Pottru. Suriya who also co-produces the film is a likely candidate for another National award next year for Amazon Prime Video’s Jai Bhim.
The triumphant formula for critical and commercial back-to-back success in both films is same: focus on a social issue while providing clean motivational entertainment.
Actor and producer Suriya shared his elation, “I am absolutely humbled by the incredible honour that Soorarai Pottru has received. I am falling short of words to express my gratitude and truly applaud the entire team’s effort to bring this inspiring story of Capt. Gopinath and his vision. The film has truly proven that nothing can stop one from achieving their dream.”
Soorarai Pottru also also won the National award for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Background Score. It fetched Aparna Balamurali the richly deserved National award for best actress.
Sharing her thoughts on receiving the award, director Sudha Kongara said, “Soorarai Pottru has always held a special place in our hearts. It is the inspired story of a man that sincerely believed in spreading his wings and reaching new heights for the people, and with the jury recognizing our little film for this prestigious award, it is a truly momentous day for the entire team.”
Feeling gratified on winning the National Film Award for best actress, lead actress Aparna Balamurali shared, “It was a life changing journey for me to work on the film alongside such exemplary talents like Sudha Ma’am and Suriya. Receiving a National Film Award for Soorarai Pottru is truly an honour as well as a responsibility to work even harder on my upcoming films.”
Suriya’s colleague from Tamil film industry Madhavan has only words of praise . “Suriya is doing work that resonates with the audience. He is also the producer on his recent films. This gives him the freedom to do what he wants, how he wants it.”
Indeed Soorarai Pottru is a bio-pic that knows no full stops, just like its protagonist who can go to any lengths to achieve his goal. Director Sudha Kongara erects an edifying edifice of hope, aspiration, dream , disappointment and eventual victory. As far as films about defying all odds are concerned, this one takes the cake, and the bakery. Speaking of which, Maara’s better-half Sundari played with feisty energy by Aparna Balamurli,wants to consolidate her bakery business. So she cuts a deal with her husband.He will fly his plane she will cater her cakes on flight. Deal? Let’s shake on that. Or better still a tight hug. The advantage of doing business with your wife.
This is a film that hits all the right notes, and doesn’t shy away from the tropes. As a wise man recently said , it’s not about the tropes, but what a filmmaker does with them. Sudha Kongara is very clear in her intentions. This is a Suriya film ,and so it is designed with all the expected bombast and braggadocio associated with the star. Suriya, God bless his productive superstardom, has all the best lines and scenes in his confrontation scenes with airline tycoon Paresh Rawal whose obviously dubbed voice gives nothing away except pure one-dimensional evil.
It’s a simple deal, really. If you must have a Superhero, then you must have a villain to match. I wouldn’t say Rawal matches Suriya’s wit with the whims of one-upmanship except for one key sequence midair where Rawal turns a plane around to spite Suriya saying, “If you own a business-class ticket I own the plane.”This must be the only scene for which Paresh rawal must have agreed to play the cardboard villain.
The odds are laid out very clearly. This is a film about a Super-hero who wants to fly the poorest of the poor. As he tells the on-screen Vijay Mallya, “You are a socialite . I’m a Socialist.” Having enunciated the film’s pop-politics so equivocally , Soorarai Pottru vividly assembles scenes of impoverished men and women taking their first flight into fancy. These are stuff that aspirational cinema thrives on. This film takes the audience uncommonly deep into the rudimentary dreams of the Common Man
This is Suriya flying business-class in a film about flying economy. Too bad, his co-star Aparna Balamurali steals almost every scene from him when they are together.Women, I tell you! They must be kept at home to make cakes. Otherwise one of them goes out and makes a film like Soorarai Pottru which makes all the male filmmakers of the country break into a cold sweat.Why didn’t they think of making a film on the king of budget aviation Captain Gopinath? Why so many bio-pics on gangsters and serial killers? Why not more Gopinaths?