Soorarai Pottru Movie Review: Suriya’s latest movie , Adapted from the book Simply Fly, by Capt. Gopinath is a smooth entertaining flight, a treat Suriya fans, barring some unnecessary songs and scenes that could have been avoided.
The story is about Suriya’s Nedumaraan Rajangam is a villager, whose father is an ordinary school teacher, happy with his meagre income and lowly life. His son is not, and aspires to fly high, literally. So, he joins the Indian Air Force, and when he fails to reach his village in time for his father’s funeral because the young man is short of money to buy an air ticket, he vows to create an airline that will peg its fare at Re 1 per seat.
What seems like an impossible dream takes off, finally – we can all predict that – but the path to this is paved with roadblocks or bumps caused not by the vagaries of weather, but powerful aviation men, like Paresh (Paresh Rawal). They – and there are unmistakable lookalikes like Vijay Mallya – place one hurdle after another in Nedumaaran’s skies.
Soorarai Pottru Movie Review Our take is it is nice flight that you will enjoy as a Suriya fan and Mohan Babu
It is an uplifting underdog tale, where victory was hard-fought, and won. Going by the goings-on in Sudha Kongara’s directorial, Maaran’s troubles were never-ending. His number one enemy, the snooty, elitist Paresh Goswami (Rawal), who wants to prevent ‘coolies and beggars’ from stepping into his airline, keeps snapping at his heels.
A corrupt, complicit babu in the Ministry of Civil Aviation keeps finding rules to stop him. And the lack of funds is a continual struggle. What keeps Maaran going is the love of a good woman, Bommi (Balamurali), the belief of countless people from his village, led by his mother (Urvashi), and his conviction that he can do it.
The film is careful to tell us that it is ‘not’ a biopic, and that it is based on ‘several true stories from low-cost aviation’, so we never quite know who is real, and who has emerged from the creative license claimed by the filmmakers. There’s a Mallya-like character called Ballaiya, who mentions his ‘beer company’ and fun-loving ways. Both Ballaiya and Goswami are drawn as caricatures, as are many other characters who are simply stock, only there to buff up the film’s run-time.
But the incredibly inspirational nature of the story, in which a common man creates history by starting ‘the Udupi hotel of the airline industry’ comes through. Gopinath’s venture meant that class and caste barriers (Suriya speaks of this) were swept aside, and the average Indian could fly. Those faces, wreathed in delight, are the most pleasing takeaways from the film.
Director Kongara’s movie is a classic story of a poor man attainting heights he thought he would not be able to, and she peppers the narrative with what appears like unsurmountable barricades, but Nedumaaran, jumps over or rather flies over each one of them.
What also lets you down is Tamil cinema’s obsession with unnecessary songs and emotions. There are scenes one too many that fly high, like the protagonist’s ambition, on tears and melodrama. The movie could have done away with these and clipped several minutes from approximately 150 minutes of runtime. Also, Suriya remains Suriya with his usual mannerisms and bravado, and his chemistry with screen wife, Sundari (Aparna Balamurali), lacks the desired flavor.
However, the author of the book Captain GR Gopinath, founder of Air Deccan, took to Twitter to shower praises on Suriya’s Soorarai Pottru, which is based on his life. In a series of tweets, Gopinath called Soorarai Pottru a heavily fictionalised version of his life but managed to capture the true essence of his life. Directed by Sudha Kongara Prasad, the film stars Suriya, Aparna Balamurali and Paresh Rawal in the lead roles.
CAPT GR GOPINATH REVIEW OF SOORARAI POTTRU
Calling it a roller-coaster ride, GR Gopinath, in a series of tweets, wrote about his thoughts on Soorarai Pottru. He watched the film last night and appreciated director Sudha Kongara Prasad for capturing the true essence of the film. He also appreciated Suriya for his earnest performance.
In a tweet, he wrote, “Sorarai potru ..Heavily fictionalised but outstanding in capturing the true essence of the story of my book. A real roller coaster. Yes watched it last night. Couldn’t help laughing and crying on many family scenes that brought memories (sic).”
While it is an inspiring movie Soorarai Pottru the movie has dived into some unnecessary songs and emotions, which could have been easily avoided. Much of what we see in the film has taken place in reality, for the story of Indian aviation is not hidden, and Kongara must be lauded for the boldness with which she and a couple of others have scripted Soorarai Pottru.
The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.