Suriya, Jyotika Sadanah and Rajsekar Pandian via 2D Entertainment will partner with Vikram Malhotra-led Abundantia Entertainment for the Hindi remake of the drama Soorarai Pottru. The Tamil film starring Suriya, which translates to “Praise the brave” released on Amazon Prime Video India last year after the COVID-19 mandated lockdown hindered its theatrical screening. According to a press release, the original film’s writer-director Sudha Kongara is currently working with a set of writers on the Hindi adaptation. She will also helm the remake. What is Soorarai Pottru about?
- Soorarai Pottru is inspired by the life of Captain GR Gopinath, a retired Army captain, who founded the low-cost airline Air Deccan.
- Suriya plays Nedumaaran Rajangam or “Maara” in this fictional retelling, whose sole aim is to make air travel inexpensive and accessible to commoners. With help of his friends, family and sheer determination, he turns his dream into reality.
- Kongara adapted the book from Gopinath’s book Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey that chronicles the latter’s beginnings as a boy from a remote village, who became one of India’s most successful aviation entrepreneurs.
- In an interview with Firstpost, Suriya said Soorarai Pottru is “not a complete biopic” of Captain Gopinath, but only captures the highlights of his life from the mid-’80s to mid-2000s.
The cast Suriya stars alongside Paresh Rawal, Aparna Balamurali, Urvashi, Mohan Babu, Vivek Prasanna, Karunas, and Dhan Dhanoa. The music
- GV Prakash Kumar composed the soundtrack and the score for the film. In September 2020, before the release, he worked on a rock song ‘Suriya 38’, later unveiled as ‘Aagasam’ with the Kerala-based band Thaikkudam Bridge. GV Prakash Kumar alongside the band’s vocalist Christin Jos sang the track.
- While the original songs are in Tamil, the soundtrack in Malayalam (written by Sudamsu), Telugu and Kannada (written by Anirudh Sastry).
- Other popular songs on the Tamil OST include ‘Kaatuka Kanule’ with vocals by Dhee, ‘Veyyon Silli’ by Harish Sivaramakrishnan. ‘Kaatuka Kanule’ was one of the most popular songs on Spotify’s year-end charts of Tamil music in 2020.
- In September last year, a case was filed against the film for the song ‘Mannurunda Mela’. The plaintiff alleged that two lines from the songs were offensive and would ‘disrupt peace’ between different castes. The lyrics translated by The News Minute are as follows: Keezh saadhi udambukulla odurathu saakadaya / Andha mel saadhi kaaranuku rendu kombirundha kaatungaiya” (Is it drainage that runs in the body of a lower caste person? Show if that upper caste person has two horns).
What the critics had to say Shubhra Gupta for The Indian Express said: “Soorarai Pottru is marred by the high-pitched melodrama whistled up every time the script needs to create fan-pleasing moments. Given Suriya’s mega popularity, that is an always present temptation, and the film gives in, much too often.” Sowmya Rajendran for The News Minute wrote: “The film is earnest in casting Maara as a ‘socialist capitalist’ (he’s an anti-caste Periyarist) but doesn’t explore his politics beyond punch dialogues and how he reconciled his principles with his business ambitions.” She concluded, “Faults apart, Soorarai Pottru is easily Suriya’s best outing in a long time. It’s a pleasant flight even if there’s some turbulence along the way.” Ranjani Krishnakumar for Firstpost wrote: “I rooted for Suriya’s character Maaran when he took flight. But also for director Sudha Kongara as she solidified her position as a rare female filmmaker to narrate a solid mainstream Tamil film.” Haricharan Pudipeddi for Hindustan Times wrote: “Soorarai Pottru, which will go down as one of the best films of the year, is Suriya’s return to form (after a few mediocre films) and it’s quite gutsy of a mainstream hero to produce and star in a film that doesn’t tick all those boxes of a typical commercial entertainer.” Srinivasa Ramanujam for The Hindu said: “Suriya as Maara holds the show together, and is typically excellent as a man besotted with a dream and willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.”