Soorarai Pottru - commune with the infinite

 

Soorarai Pottru

(Cheer on the Brave)

Tamil, 2020 (it is available in multiple languages on Amazon Prime)

Directed by Sudha Kongara

Stars Suriya, Aparna Balamurali, Paresh Rawal, Urvashi

Mohan's Measure ✲✲✲✲✲

Those of us who have lived here long enough have had our share of  "feel-good" movies, the ones where the underdog beats the all the odds and shows the world what he/she is made of.

But, none of the ones I recall have the intensity or the passion of Soorarai Pottru. The movie is inspired by the story of G. R. Gopinath, the founder and CEO of Air Deccan, a low-cost, limited frills airline which exclusively uses small turbo-prop airplanes.  Needless to say, much poetic license is taken to present him as a muscle-bound ex-Army officer who never gives in, no matter how much the stakes are against him.  But, in taking such license, the resulting film verges on brilliance.

It is the acting that knocks the wind out of us.  The legendary Suriya has not given this fine a performance since Kaakha Kaakha, and the youthfulness in his step, and the passion in his eyes sets him back 20 years.

One reason why the young Aparna Balamurali seems so natural next to him, despite the age difference. But, more so, the starlet brings a beauty borne solely out of her acting skills. Her sex appeal is the spunky, self-assured, but undeniably feminine quality of South Tamil Nadu girls, and she brings it to the screen better than anyone I've seen before.  

This is something we who love movies call "screen presence."  It is the stuff of magic, which separates mere actresses from divas and legends. I hope Ms. Balamurali will take this to heart when I beg her to hold on to it.  Do not give in to the trap of the Tollywood and Bollywood industries to become eye-candy to yet another aging star wanting the limelight.  Hold on to that spunk, strive for movies where women and men are equal partners, and demand only the good scripts.

A good script is complimented by "semma" music by G V Prakash.  Normally in South Indian Cinema, the music interrupts the movie, here it compliments it, bringing the tenacity, the sensitivity, the sorrow, and the unending audacity of the characters to life.

Bravo!! Standing Ovation!