Saravanan Sivakumar, AKA Suriya turns 43 today, and he’s been on screen for 21 years of his life so far. From the lanky boy in jeans and an untucked full arm check-shirt, sporting a moustache to make him look older, to the larger than life Singam, Suriya has grown, aged and changed.
Here are some his best performances across the decades, and the possible reasons for the sudden lull.
1. Nandha and the Intense Intention
From 1997, till about the end of 2001, Suriya played the horribly good boy-next-door, silent and prone to sacrifice. He was indistinguishable from actor Vijay, who had an equally stiff face and played equally Barjatya-esque roles.
And then came Nandha (November 2001), directed by Bala, who introduced Tarantino level gore into Tamil films, but with a lot more realism. The film proved to be cathartic for the actor, who changed not only his look and persona, but also his choice of films from then on.
Suriya had barely any dialogue in this film, but ample screen time. Other directors like Mysskin have tried and badly failed in replicating the no-dialogue-just-staring style that Nandha became famous for. It was Suriya’s intensity that made it work.
Also, you can thank me for this song, which is probably one of Ilayaraja’s best in his later years.
2. The Golden Year, 2003
With Mani Rathnam’s Ayutha Ezhuthu (The Final Letter), Suriya’s career as a superstar began. Right before this film, he blazed into the limelight with Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Kaakha Kaakha, a film about a badass cop who avenges his wife’s murder. GVM has been making the same film with other heroes ever since. Suriya has moved on to better things.
2003 was a golden year of hat trick hits, starting with Kaakha Kaakha, followed by Perazhagan, and then Ayutha Ezhuthu. Masala, comedy and stylish intensity; Suriya got to showcase all of these, and in just one year.
Some say that it was Kaakha Kaakha, that jump started his career. There might be some truth to that, especially because it had Jyothika, his co-star, who convinced GVM to cast him for the role. The two (Jyothika and Suriya) would later (sooner) go on to marry and raise two children.
3. Ghajini and the Mod Bod Era
If there’s one film that gives Christopher Nolan sleepless nights, it has to be AR Murugadoss’ Ghajini (2004), ‘inspired’ by Nolan’s Memento. Nolan could consider this retroactive Karma for Inception, but it is quite vexing to see such a hugely successful rip off.
Nevertheless, Ghajini remains one of Suriya’s most successful films to date, and a paisa-vasool 3 hour flick. Suriya turned out to be a surprisingly agile dancer, and his lover-boy image too went up a notch, with thanks to his on screen chemistry with Asin.
Ghajini started the bare-chest six-pack era for Suriya. It was almost like his next few films were based solely on his body. GVM’s Vaaranam Ayiram (2008), had him more scantily clad than the three heroines in the film. This was followed by Ayan (2009) and Aadhavan (2009); masala flicks that were big budget, low on logic and high or returns. Both ‘Ayan’ and ‘Aadhavan’ are synonyms for the sun in Tamil. ‘Suriya’ means sun. That’s the level of word-play we’ve had to deal with.
4. Singam and the Way Down
Hari is a Tamil film director who has a penchant for loooong takes that he loves to fast-forward in vertigo inducing sequences.
He coupled this technique with thumpy music, over-the-top dialogues and voila! in 2010, Singam was born. This was Suriya’s 25th film and left even Ghajini tasting the trail-wind in terms of BO collections. Sadly, it spawned two more louder, jerkier sequels, which did pretty well for themselves.
Singam gave Suriya a unique style and persona that appealed to semi-urban B-centres, which is actually the larger base for Tamil cinema. He became a household name, and wannabe inspectors and SIs started to sport handlebar moustaches and wear shirts with tight sleeves that accentuated biceps.
If Singam was the pinnacle of Suriya’s fame as a superstar, it was also the last film that moved the masses collectively.
5. 24 and the Ticking Clock
24 was a 2016 film. In the six years since Singam (2010), Suriya acted in a many more films and also did a brief stint on TN with the Tamil version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? But none of it had the impact of his previous films, and the actor seemed highly predictable in them all.
Suriya is a philanthropist at heart, and has used the silver screen multiple times to reach out to the audience and inspire them to do good. His NGO, Agaram Foundation (2007) has done genuine work in AIDS awareness and education for the underprivileged.
Sadly though, Suriya often confuses his off-screen persona with his on screen roles. In consequence, he tends to come across as a too-good-to-be-true character, in films like Pasanga 2 and Thaana Serndha Koottam, which was his latest release and a disappointment at the box office.
Suriya’s rise to stardom has been steep, but so has his commitment to his roles, and the effort he put in to hone every aspect of his skill. It would do him and the audience a world of good, if the 43-year-old returns to his roots, unlearns a couple of mannerisms, and gives us another performance to remember.
(This piece is from The Quint’s archives. It is being republished to mark Suriya’s birthday. )
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