“Vandhorai vaazhavaikkum Chennai.” When actor Soori got here to Chennai in 1996, town might have examined his perception in that idiom, which loosely interprets to ‘Chennai shelters all those who seek.’ When requested what this metropolis has meant to him, Soori will get nostalgic about his days of wrestle, reminiscing a couple of time when, he says, the movie trade wasn’t even seen to individuals who moved to Chennai with celluloid desires. “But Chennai offered me a lot of opportunities, and I took on whatever jobs I could get; I knew I could somehow survive in the city,” he says, including that town taught him life even earlier than he entered the movie trade. “It also taught me relationships and the importance of family. I had to grow inch by inch, not step by step, but somehow I have reached this level of growth. I still have a long way to go, but I am grateful to the city for this life. Chennai vandhorai vaazhavaikkum,” says Soori.
Two years later, in 1998, Soori acted in an uncredited function in Maru Malarchi, after which he started his stint as a set assistant. “Back then, I just wanted to act, but you can’t ask for an acting chance easily. I worked as a carpenter or a painter on film sets, hoping that just being on the shooting spot would prove helpful if they needed a junior artist in the last minute.” And that’s exactly how he obtained to be within the entrance of the digital camera in Suresh Krissna’s Sangamam. “Did you know it was I who painted the puli vesham on the kids in the ‘Mazhai Thuli’ song? I was also supposed to ensure they don’t jump into the lake and spoil their make-ups.” That’s when a possibility introduced itself. “They needed a background artist, and they asked me since I was nearby. I couldn’t sleep for a whole night after doing that shot, as if those two seconds were the whole two-and-a-half-hour film.”
Soori
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Then Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu occurred in 2009, catapulting Soori to the highlight as a comic. Fascinatingly, he by no means knew changing into a comic was his calling.” The nature of my job was such that I would work at a website for 4 days and then transfer on to a different. I solely used to give attention to maintaining the work environment gentle and entertaining. So it was these round me who made me realise that my sense of humour was a power and that it had its personal set of followers.” Soori recounts how artwork director Muthu employed him, to not do carpentry, however to maintain his hundred-odd labourers entertained. “He just wanted me to be with them and do nothing.”
Decades later, Soori has now transitioned right into a bona fide Tamil cinema hero. After profitable turns in Viduthalai, Kottukkaaliand Garudan, Soori is now awaiting the discharge of Maaman, a stirring household drama which, because the title suggests, centres round a maternal uncle’s affection for his dotting nephew. This is an try to reveal the dramatic shade to the actor in him, says the actor. “I am just focused on bringing unique characters to the audiences, and so I wanted to do something entirely different from those three lead roles, as an ordinary family man.” Instead of ready for one such story, Soori determined to pen one himself.
Prageeth Sivan and Soori in a nonetheless from ‘Maaman’
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The actor reveals that producer Okay Kumar requested director Prashanth Pandiyaraj to request Soori if he might narrate his by means of line. “I absolutely loved his web series Vilangu, but more importantly, the way he conversed with me, and the inputs he had after listening to my story gave me the confidence that he could do a good job at it,” provides the actor.
Fascinatingly, what has really struck a chord with Soori’s second innings as an actor is his alternative of characters; regardless of having made a robust impression as a comic, his protagonists seem as they’re, not resembling the comic Soori we’re conversant in. “That’s what I strive a lot to do. I am not sure how successful I have been at that, but the response from critics and audiences tells me that my efforts aren’t going in vain. Sometimes, in films like Garudan, I had to be conscious not to appear as the old Soori.” Maaman proved to be fairly difficult in that regard, he provides. “This character, Inba, would either appear as a normal family man or as very emotional, as a man stuck in the whirlwind of what happens in the film. The person you would see when he’s an ordinary man isn’t too far away from the comedian Soori, and so I had to ensure I stay as Inba and don’t conjure the old Soori back again,” he reveals.
Aishwarya Lekshmi, Soori, Rajkiran and Viji Chandrasekhar
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Soori is all of the extra conversant in household entertainers boasting an extended ensemble solid — Rajkiran, Swasika, Bala Saravanan, Baba Bhaskar, Viji Chandrasekhar, and youngster actor Prageeth Sivan seem in Maaman, alongside feminine lead Aishwarya Lekshmi. He has even appeared because the maternal uncle of heroes and heroines. So he will need to have naturally considered punchlines and jokes that might assist the movie. “Of course, but I would ask the director to let Bala utter those dialogues; though we couldn’t utilise him a lot in Maaman, he is in the film specifically for comedy, and so it’s only right that he scores with those lines. Moreover, I don’t want to keep reminding you of the comedian Soori,” he stresses.
As we start to wrap our dialog, I ask him concerning the film adaptation of Meeran Mitheen’s novel ‘Ajnabi’ that ace director Vetri Maaran and Soori have been purported to take a crack at earlier than Viduthalai. “Vetri sir still wishes to do that film. That’s the project we were supposed to team up for, and we even did a photoshoot for it. The COVID-19 pandemic spoiled our plans because ‘Ajnabi’ is set in Dubai.” Are there plans to revive the mission? “He has a lot of commitments right now, so I can’t say for sure. I mean, he did tell me that we would collaborate again on another film, but we can’t say if that film would be the ‘Ajnabi’ adaptation,” he says.
After Maaman, Soori shall be seen in Mandaadi, directed by Vetri’s affiliate and Sefie-director Mathimaran Pugazhenthi. “It’s in complete contrast to Maaman; it’s a deep subject that demands a lot of effort from me, both mentally and physically,” says Soori. The actor, nonetheless, can’t converse an excessive amount of about why his movie with Ram, Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai, co-starring Nivin Pauly, stays unreleased. “The producer had told me that he had some films due for release before Yezhu Kadal… but I am not sure what’s causing the delay.”
Soori is now in an area largely shielded from the constraints of economic cinema, and so whereas he needs to tackle experiments, he wouldn’t thoughts some industrial crowd-pleasers both. “I want all my films to have a strong story and compelling character writing. I now wish to do an action film with a good story, something like Naan Mahaan Alla. Maybe also a film that lets me do a lot of dancing,” he indicators off.
Maaman releases in theatres this Friday
Published – May 13, 2025 07:21 pm IST
