I am not the only hero in Kaappaan – The Suriya Interview
Suriya opens up on the unique experience that Kaappaan brought him, his rapport with KV Anand, marriage advice to the Arya-Sayyeshaa pair and much more.
When one decides to make a list of the best commercial entertainers in Tamil cinema, he cannot help but miss out on Ayan, which indeed was a path-breaking which entertained us in very different fashion. Though Suriya and KV Anand go back a long way as they started working together right from Nerukku Ner itself, their first actor-director combination turned out to be a blockbuster we will remember forever. Then came Maattraan, which once again took a very interesting premise for a commercial film. And now, Suriya and KV Anand are just days away from the release of Kaappaan, their third outing together which does look like the biggest of the three. Luckily, we caught up with Suriya prior to the release of the film, speaking about why and how he became a part of the film, his relationship with KV Anand and much more.
Obviously, the first and the simplest question to him would be on why he picked Kaappaan as a film, and how it is different from the films he has done so far. Suriya immediately replies by saying, “Personally, I love doing films that dig deep into the lives of people. In India, there are a lot of unsung heroes whose stories are very exciting and beautiful, but they rarely hit the marquee. Kaappaan speaks about the SPG (Special Protection Group), a set of 3000 people who are even more powerful than the highest range of the police force.
When cops and army officials usually hear the sound of a bullet, they look around to see who the sniper is. But the SPG’s main aim is to guard up the leader they are protecting, and take the bullet themselves.
They are the ones who walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the leader. Kaappaan will bring us the tale of one such SPG official. I am not the only hero here, and it doesn’t revolve around just me. There are lot of other characters who are important to the storyline,” said the actor.
“The entire experience surrounding Kaappaan was different from what I have done so far. I spent three very precious days at the NSG training center at Manesar, near Delhi. I can never forget those days. I had a great time interacting as they shared stories about their episodes with the bigwigs of the nation,” he continued.
Suriya also commented on his relationship with KV Anand, which has gotten better and better over the period of ten years.
“In terms of doing a KV Anand film, there is always that extra effort which is required, and that is because of the story that he brings. He finds a lot of new dimensions in me and depicts it on screen, which in turn brings out the best from me.
As an actor, I just surrender to him and he is terrific when it comes to extracting work from me,” he says.
The cast of Kaappaan is what makes it all the more interesting, with the addition of a big star like Mohanlal in a very important role, apart from other actors such as Arya, Sayyeshaa, Boman Irani, Samuthirakani and more. Suriya speaks about his experience of working with Mohanlal, saying, “He never left the weight of his stardom and seniority on us. He creates such a freewheeling aura that we can talk about all the things in the world to him. He is not just about his acting, he is a lot more.” 
One of the most interesting things that took place during Kaappaan’s evolution was the real-life pairing of Arya and Sayyeshaa, one of the most beautiful couples in Kollywood. Suriya has very nice things to say about Sayyeshaa, calling her an incredibly talented artist who is quick to pick up things. “I just ended up sharing a lot of real-life stories and advice with them. Sayyeshaa was initially a part of the film, but it was so nice of Arya to come in and join us within a space of just five hours, as the actor who was supposed to do the role backed out due to some reasons,” he added. “Life is always a learning process. I’m not a great personality, there are a lot of people better than me. But I had penned down some little anecdotes and some of my life experiences in a book called Ippadikku Suriya, which brought me a lot of thank-you notes and appreciation, with young minds saying that it helped them encourage themselves. During my marriage with Jyotika, we saw a lot of divorce cases around us, and we took it up as a challenge to stay together. When we got married after knowing each other for 5-6 years, we thought that we knew everything about ourselves. But only post marriage, the actual understandings begin. She not just married me, she married my family. I just shared little pieces of advice from my road so far with them,” he said.
We wish Suriya a big blockbuster with Kaappaan, which hits the screens on the 20th of September.
