5 Best Characters Suriya Ever Played!
It’s certainly a herculean task and more so if the person in question is a convincing method actor. However, I have put my thinking hats on and picked five best roles of Suriya not by keeping in mind few factors to determine the outcome but by discarding the most clichéd yardstick – box-office records. If we set box-office records as the benchmark, we are most likely to end with up with at least three out of his last five films in our list. That a popular actor’s geography is naturally bound to increase (at least, marginally) film after film is a well-accepted fact. It’s more agreeable when a reputed production house does slick marketing in tandem to the actor’s towering popularity. Hence, we decided to leave the box-office records and instead pick five best roles that re-defined Suriya’s career acting-wise.
Nandha – 2001 (Nandha)
Literally speaking, Nandha (2001) is the first game-changing movie for Suriya since he debuted his acting career in Nerukku Ner in 1997. The movie was highly anticipated since it was also director Bala’s second film after his heart-wrenching Vikram starrer Sethu which made heads turn in Tamil cinema. Surya as Nandha proved his mettle as an actor and critics were quite hopeful that he has an appetite for writer-backed roles. Surya played the role of a hatchet man to Raj Kiran, a local do-gooder. His borderline bald makeover for the film was in total contrast to his previous film Friends – a multi-starrer where he looked vernal and suave – which was also released the same year. Though Bala, Laila and Randy (Rathanavelu) bagged Filmfare awards for the film, Surya managed to fetch the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor, which was also his first.
Mounam Pesiyadhe – 2002 (Gautham)
Mounam Pesiyadhe is to Surya fans how Pudhupettai is to Dhanush fans. Period. No film of his commands a phenomenal cult following like Mounam Pesiyadhe does. Surya as Gautham is loved by moviegoers even today. The in-your-face dialogues written by Ameer (also his directorial debut) are timeless classics. Mounam Pesiyadhe would be the first film to flash your mind (if you haven’t seen Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra) if you jot down a list of films which effectively utilized Suriya’s ultra-powerful eyes. The bearded and brawny Suriya as the angry young man – who loathes love, precisely lovers – with his coloured lens and a neatly groomed hairdo is one of his best appearances on screen, ever.
Pithamagan – 2003 (Sakthi)
Pithamagan is the film that substantiated the fact that Suriya desperately wants to push the envelope. It reaffirmed his avidness to prove his histrionic skills to the audiences as well as filmmakers. Suriya as the conman Sakthi, a charismatic and nonchalant live-wire is one of his crackling on-screen performances. In short, Sakthi exploded on the big screen like a 10,000 wala cracker. This was also the golden period in his career, performance-wise. The variety of roles he had taken up during this phase is stupefying. In fact, he delivered Pithamagan after Gautham Menon’s Kaakha Kaakha where he played an astute, people-friendly cop. With Pithamagan, Suriya opened his Filmfare account with the Best Supporting Actor award.
Ghajini – 2005 (Sanjay Ramaswamy)
Sanjay Ramaswamy is arguably the singular performance of Surya which college girls fell in love with, again and again. Sanjay as a post-traumatic amnesia patient and rich business man (in the flash-back) was effortlessly done by Suriya with consummate ease. He made giant strides as a performer and by now, he evolved as a bankable actor in Tamil cinema. Ghajini opened new markets for Surya in other states and also earned him pan-India appeal as a star. His riveting performance was appreciated by both critics and film buffs alike. Ghajini was probably the first biggest film of Surya which garnered both widespread critical and commercial acclaim, with the film grossing five times its budget. He won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for this film.
Vaaranam Aayiram – 2008 (Krishnan, Suriya Krishanan)
Some consider Vaaranam Aayiram as one of the best rom-coms ever made in Tamil cinema. Some consider Vaaranam Aayiram as one of the overrated films directed by Gautham Menon. But, there is no denying the fact that it is one of the best musicals ever churned out by Gautham Menon – Harris combo. Firstly, no other film provided ample screen space for Suriya to experiment throughout the film like Vaaranam Aayiram did. He played a 17-year old with a measly moustache and then removed the same to play a love-struck, backlogs-smitten college student. He did the former with a fiery passion and he delivered the latter with an endearing ease. His muscular body spiced up with a six-pack abs for the army man character was whistle-worthy and marvellous. Albeit, Suriya as the senile Krishnan struggling with health issues at the fag end of life was not quite convincing. But, the graph of the film right from the beginning to the end is extra-ordinary and the number of characters Suriya enacted in the film is nothing short of a colossal performance. And fittingly, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
Honourable Mentions: Perazhagan (Filmfare Award for Best Actor), Aayutha Ezhuthu.
Only Kollywood wishes Suriya a fantabulous 39th birthday. Here’s to more globe-trotting box-office records and good films. His upcoming films include Lingusamy’s Anjaan which is slated for release on August 15th, Venkat Prabhu’s Masss which is onto its first schedule and an untitled flick with Vikram Kumar of 13B fame (official confirmation awaited).
– Written by Surendhar MK