Soorarai Pottru
Ratings: 3/5
Duration: 02 Hrs 33 Mins
Genre: Action, Drama
Language: Tamil
Director: Sudha Kongara
Writers: Sudha Kongara, Shalini Usha Nair, Aalif Surti
Producers: Achin Jain, Rajsekar Karpoorasundarapandian, Guneet Monga, Suriya, Aalif Surti
Release Date: 12 November 2020
Streaming On: Amazon Prime
Star Cast: Suriya, Paresh Rawal, Aparna Balamurali, Mohan Babu, Urvashi, Sampath Raj, Prakash Belawadi, Dan Dhanoa, Achyuth Kumar, Vinodhini Vaidynathan, 'Poo' Ram, Karunas, Vivek Prasanna, Malini Sathappan, Alysha Melani, Kaali Venkat, Supergood Subramani, Arvind Janakiraman, Swaminathan, Pandi, Vishalini, Hans Kaushik, Krishnakumar, Parandhaman, Ashwinjit, M.S. Raaja Rajeshwaran, Roshan, Cassandra, Malli, Thiyagarajan, Guru, Dhatsa Dayal, Pradeep, Udumalai Kalam, Annamayil, Karuppu, Srinivasan, Shakeena, Saravanan, Rudal, Baby Janvi, Pulipandi, Avinash, Praveen, Priya Prince, Madhuri, Sridhar, Rajamani, Rahull, Budget Padmanabhan, Vulsunn Vetrivel, Anandhi, Ajith, Cycle Mani, Nash, Ra Nadesan, Radhakrishnan, Haritha, Samyuktha, Gowtham, Manimaran, Mano, Karthik Iyer, Suresh Kumar Sipani, Vijay Boothalingam, Flt Lt Giri Rangarajan, Nivetha Badulla, Ilan, Raja, Velu, Raams, Kabeeshan, Pushpam, Dr. G. Gnanasambandam, Senthil Vel, K.G. Mohan, Kb Kumar, Sakthi Balaji Krishnaraj, Kallan, Kumaran, Iyal, Santhosh, Arjun Nadesan, Anjana Nandakumar, Somasekhar, Lakshmi, Paul Mathew, R. Priyadarshan, Girish, Anjana, Kannadasan, Vishwanathan
Plot: Soorarai Pottru is an inspiring tale about a common man from a village in Madurai who dreams big. The film revolves around Nedumaaran Rajangam aka Maara played by Suriya, who dreams of launching a low-cost airline; and his wife Sundari aka Bommi played by Aparna Balamurali, who runs a bakery and funds his dreams.
Paresh Goswami played by Paresh Rawal, a leader in the aviation industry, tries his best to ensure that this dream doesn't take off. So, will Maara be able to reach for the sky and not fall down, forms the rest of the story.
Review: The film Soorarai Pottru is based on the book ‘Simply Fly’ by the founder of Air Deccan, Captain GR Gopinath.
With this plotline, the director of the film Sudha Kongara takes a non-linear route instead of a straightforward way to reach her destination, but she manages to do this well by mixing just about the right amount of the antagonist's personal life to what the story is actually about. Despite not getting answers to many questions that would pop in viewers' heads, one still could find oneself rooting for the antagonist, and that is where Sudha Kongara’s vision wins!
When it comes to performances, Suriya gets his meatiest role. Hence, with his whole-souled approach towards his art, he manages to hold the viewers’ attention for the time he is on screen. Therefore, it won't be wrong to say that it is his emotional depth to understand the character that exactly helps him to connect with his fans.
Aparna Balamurali as Sundari aka Bommi (Maraa’s wife) flawlessly showcases the same on-screen with a spunky performance that instantly makes her character endearing.
Both characters portray individuals who are both crazy about their high-flying dreams. Though Bommi's dream of running a bakery might seem small compared to Maara's at first glance, Sudha Kongara, the director, keeps underlining the fact that Bommi is also breaking the glass ceiling in her own way. In short, the Maara-Bommi relationship is one of the film's major strengths! It shows us marriage equality, in ways that are intricate.
Talking about better roles, the overqualified Paresh Rawal gets the least interesting role of all. He is an essential part of the story, but his character sketch is way too weak to utilize his range of talent.
Music by G.V. Prakash Kumar syncs aptly with the story. Neither the background score interferes with the viewers’ experience of watching the film, nor it boosts it. And barring a few shabby CGI created flight sequences, the film manages to look beautiful. However, at two-and-a-half hours, Soorarai Pottru is a tad long, especially when watching on a laptop or a television screen at home, and it is impossible to not want to get moving sooner.
Nevertheless, Soorarai Pottru is an inspiring tale, though Maaran is not the hero we will erect cut-outs for, but he is the man we want to be!
