There was a time when discussions, or rather debates, were rife about who would be the rightful heir to Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Haasan. With Vijay and Ajith setting their focus on mass-entertainers, following the path of MG Ramachandran (MGR) and Rajinikanth, people interested in the aforementioned topic concluded that Vikram or Suriya would be the ideal successor to Sivaji and Kamal who had earned their top positions among Tamil actors through their exceptional acting skills. Remember, this was before Dhanush had proven his prowess, with his only significant performances being in Kaadhal Kondein and Pudhupettai. I’m talking about the 2000s, when Vikram and Suriya were doing masala and intense films in tandem, and were able to further enhance their acting abilities and cement their status as exceptional thespians even in commercial films. As their performances in massy movies too highlighted their vast, untapped potential, major filmmakers, including those known for creating independent and intense films, began making a beeline for one of the two.

A product of nepotism, Suriya (born Saravanan Sivakumar), the son of renowned Tamil actor Sivakumar, entered show business by playing one of the two lead roles, the other being portrayed by “Thalapathy” Vijay, in director Vasanth’s Nerukku Ner. Produced by ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam, Nerukku Ner was a box-office success. Though Suriya, who turns 49 today, subsequently did a couple of films like Kaadhale Nimmadhi, Periyanna and Poovellam Kettuppar, none of them proved he had significant talent and he was ready to soon be written off as “just another star kid”. Even though Friends (2001), a remake of the Malayalam movie of the same name, became a huge hit, it did not prove anything about Suriya’s acting.

Director Bala, however, altered Suriya’s career by casting him in the lead role in his problematic film Nandha. Notably, two more problematic movies were pivotal in establishing Suriya as an exceptional actor. As flawed as these movies were, his remarkable performances overshadowed their issues, at least during their initial releases, winning the admiration of many.

For Suriya, who had been doing light and romantic roles until then, Nandha served him the first, real opportunity to fully showcase his potential, if he had any, as the titular character significantly challenged his abilities. Bala’s fascination with poverty porn and the brutal portrayal of pain and suffering was evident in Nandha as well. In the film, Suriya played a man, obsessed with his mother, who returns from a juvenile home after serving time for killing his abusive father. Under the guise of “honest depiction of reality,” Bala has repeatedly used real-life harassment, torture and hardships of the oppressed, depicting them in an unfiltered and unempathetic manner, which can make those with similar experiences relive their traumas. Nandha too was no exception. By focusing overtly on and romanticising a man’s extreme maternal fixation, which actually requires professional attention, and glorifying his brutalities resulting from both mental health issues and the state’s inadequate prison system that fails to ensure rehabilitation, Bala created a troubling film, though it was less so compared to his later works. However, Suriya embodied the character with exceptional skill, bringing out its multiple layers with finesse. From Nandha’s default body language and the changes it underwent as he experienced various emotions, including rage, grief, sorrow, love and yearning for maternal compassion, to the nuances he provided the role, his performance in the movie highlighted that Suriya was a spectacular actor who could achieve great heights if given opportunities. Nandha also earned the actor his first and only Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.

Playing ACP Anbuselvan IPS in Kaakha Kaakha (2003) not only gave Suriya the opportunity to further explore and showcase his abilities but also marked a significant milestone in his rise to stardom. Director Gautham Vasudev Menon’s fascination with uniformed services is well-known and he has often glamourised this on-screen. Kaakha Kaakha was the first movie to highlight this fixation, glorifying extrajudicial/encounter killings and the use of third-degree methods by officers to ensure “swift delivery of justice”. By portraying his cop characters as inherently good people without any grey shades, Gautham ensured that their intentions, and consequently their actions, were not questioned. The romanticisation of encounter specialists in Kaakha Kaakha was so pronounced that the core group of such officers, including Anbuselvan, who were deployed to combat organised crime in Chennai, were introduced as “the untouchables”. Anbuselvan’s dialogue about how encounter killings were more economical than giving an accused a fair trial further emphasised this point.

Nonetheless, Suriya’s depiction of the righteous police officer was outstanding, setting a benchmark for the portrayal of cop characters. His measured dialogue delivery and the stiffness he maintained in his body language highlighted his deep understanding of the character, who rarely received love and compassion in his formative years and for whom his job was his whole world. Just like in Nandha, in Kaakha Kaakha too, Suriya demonstrated his ability to seamlessly navigate a character’s various emotions and feelings while staying true to its soul.

Director Sasi Shanker’s Perazhagan (2004), a remake of the Malayalam film Kunjikoonan, was the third problematic film that solidified Suriya’s reputation as a reliable actor, leading to more significant opportunities in films like Ghajini, Aaru, Sillunu Oru Kaadhal, Vaaranam Aayiram and others. Revolving around Prem Kumar aka Chinna (Suriya), a man with a hunchback and several other related disabilities, Perazhagan, like Kunjikoonan, treated the character in only two ways: for comedy or tragedy. The “jokes” in the film were primarily directed at Chinna and his disabilities. Others also felt sorry for his perceived “incapabilities”.

A scene where the local thug Varadhan beats Chinna, while the villagers watch silently, highlights the film’s lack of genuine empathy for people with disabilities, using them mainly to elicit quick emotional responses in audiences. At the same time, the jabs at Chinna, including calling him “manushya gorilla (human gorilla)”, by various characters were not just demeaning but outright offensive. While Chinna faced all the ridicule, Suriya’s other role in the film, Karthik, was his complete opposite: short-tempered, powerful (and eventually a stalker).  Nevertheless, Suriya’s performances in both roles helped mitigate the film’s unsettling aspects to an extent. His ability and willingness to undergo transformation for Chinna and his dynamic portrayal underscored his talent, paving the way for his rise as a prominent actor.

Source: indianexpress