Soorarai Pottru Movie Review

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After hard fought battles finally Suriya’s Soorarai Pottru has flew over all the barriers and has landed on the OTT platform. The much awaited drama is about the revolution brought about by captain Gopinath in the Indian aviation industry. Lately, there has been a craze for biopic movies in the Indian film industry. But director Sudha Kongara has opt to just take inspiration from the success story of an audacious dream of a common man to make air travel affordable for all sect of people. She has made space for creative narration to suit the taste of the audience. Will Soorarai Pottru turn out to be a solid entertainer? To know let’s get in to the review.

The film narrates the tale of Nedumaran Rajaangam aka Maara (Suriya), hailing from a small village near Madurai. His father (Poo Rajangam) is a school teacher and his mother (Urvashi), a caring and innocent housewife. Maara is a man with an ambition – an ambition that would forever change the course of the aviation business. He aspires to make flying not only affordable but to fly people for just a penny. He is so fixated on his dream and would not let his humble background to tie him down from accomplishing what he wants. He works hard on drafting up his business model. While doing so he falls in love with Bommi (Aparna Balamurali), who like Maara has a dream of her own – to set up a bakery. Bommi is a strong natured woman who would not shy away from standing up for herself when people pass on patriarchy as tradition.

Maara draws the attention of Paresh Goswami (Paresh Rawal) – an idol of his and a bigwig in the aviation industry – when he takes his plan to him asking for his assistance. Being a prudent businessman, it does not take much time for Paresh Goswami to realize Maara’s dream would wobble his million dollar business. He not only refrains from offering assistance to Maara but insults him with his smirking tone. Heartbroken but not willing to let go of his dream Maara takes it up on himself to build the business. Naturally, Paresh Goswami does what a corporate businessman would do when he feels his business is threatened; he sabotages Maara’s efforts. How Maara manages to squash all the blockade on his path is what makes the rest of the flick.

The film has its flight and landing. Besides the protagonists’ attempt to reach his goal, it is the dexterity of story teller Sudha Kongara and Vijay Kumar to develop characters and their conflicts make the drama gripping. Be it the difficult relationship of a father and son, the innocent mom who fights hard to keep the family bond together, and the relationship between a husband and wife, are absolutely a delight to watch and it is not something you get to watch often in Tamil cinema. There is a sense of overwhelming joy in watching Tamil films that talk about complex human relationships and that has space for their female lead to speak up for her.

Along with the call to go after our dream the flick also lays stress on the need and importance for relationships with equal rights to partners. In fact, when Maara loses everything in life, it is Bommi who takes care of the family and offers him the financial support to stay afloat. Bommi and Maara’s relationship is neatly written and is one of the key elements of the film that lures us in to the drama. On the down side, the film slightly feels to be lengthy than required. May be trimming off a couple of songs at unnecessary moments might be of help. But those things can be overlooked and Suriya’s Soorarai Pottru easily becomes the best film among the flicks that have been released on the OTT platform.

Actor Suriya who has been on the rough patch of late has got a meaty role to unleash his acting prowess that has been untested for a while now. He scores smoothly without efforts and makes us feel the rage of an ambitious young man as well as the pain of a dejected man whose dream is on the cliff hanging between success and failure. Aparna Balamurali’s work must be lauded as Bommi is not the usual female lead that you see predominantly in Tamil cinema and it required someone who could get under the skin of the character to bring it to life. The actress has made it look so simple and adds a beautiful flavor to her role. Actors Urvashi, Poo Rajangam, and Mohan Babu make their presence felt in their limited screen time.

On the technical front, G. V. Prakash Kumar’s songs are not effective enough to leave a lasting effect. Cinematographer Niketh Bommi Reddy has beautifully captured the authentic beauty of Madurai which is further strengthened by his colleague editor Sathish Suriya. Writer Vijay Kumar deserves a special mention as his dialogues are quite sharp and neatly delivers what the director wants to.

On the whole, director Sudha Kongara has got many things right outdoing few minor flaws in the inspirational drama making it worth the watch.