Suriya is the most versatile leading man in Indian cinema today; Soorarai Pottru, Jai Bhim, and Vikram are proof

The 68th National Film Awards announced on Friday belonged to Soorarai Pottru. The Tamil film took home five awards, including three of the big ones--best feature film, best actor, and best actress. But even before the awards had been announced, many pundits had called the film and its lead actor Suriya clear favourites. What’s amazing is that though Suriya has won a National Award for Soorarai Pottru, many don’t even regard that as his finest performance. That would probably be Jai Bhim, which may very well earn him another award next year. Whether that happens or not, there is no denying Suriya’s talent. The actor turns 47 on Saturday and has been acting for 25 years. In a long and stellar career, he has been one of the few actors to balance stardom and performances with great finesse. Tamil audiences have known this for years. It’s high time the country wakes up to that. Also read: Suriya dedicates Soorarai Pottru's National Film Award win to kids, family

As someone who did not grow up on Tamil cinema, I was oblivious to Suriya and his work for almost his entire first decade of professional career. The first time I heard his name was in the mid-2000s when Aamir Khan announced that he was remaking the Suriya and Asin-starrer 2005 hit Ghajini. Over the years, I kept hearing Suriya’s name often, in announcements or award functions and sometimes even in the credits of dubbed Tamil films I’d half catch on TV. After all, this was the level of introduction most Hindi speakers had with Tamil cinema in the 2000s and 2010s. For us, the industry did not exist beyond Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan or the occasional breakthrough film like Anniyan. But as the decade drew to a close, I realised I was hearing one name more often than others. And the adjectives were not ‘grand’ or ‘superstar’ but ‘solid’ or ‘great actor’. So, I decided to ‘check out’ Suriya Sivakumar and became a fan.

But it was the pandemic that firmly converted me into the cult of Suriya, first with Soorarai Pottru and then with Jai Bhim. In both the films, he played a character that is the underdog and won’t hesitate to do what’s right. However, the roles and performances were still different enough to allow Suriya to display his versatility.

And just when I was getting comfortable with the idea of Suriya making this sub-genre of the ‘righteous underdog’ his own, he goes ahead and pulls the proverbial rug from under my feet with his Rolex. I’m sorry, Rolex sir, rather. Even though, Suriya was on screen for all of five minutes in Vikram, his diabolically delightful portrayal of the villain Rolex was enough to make him the talking of a point that starred Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi, and Fahadh Faasil. Granted that a negative role has its own charm but even then, to steal the show from such accomplished and popular actors on the basis of just a five-minute appearance speaks volumes about both your talent and star power.

Over the years, Suriya has successfully carved a niche in Tamil cinema in which his success does not depend on box office numbers. That’s a huge achievement in an industry that has deified stars based on their earnings. So while his contemporaries like Vijay, Ajith, and Vikram have racked up impressive numbers, Suriya has found other ways to succeed--by combining numbers with performances. Granted his films don’t do as well as some of the names mentioned but his acting often gets more people talking too.

In this niche space where versatility meets stardom, Suriya has a few competitors across India. Names like Dhanush and Ranveer Singh come to mind. Ranveer Singh is often touted as the epitome of versatility since he can play the underdog (Gully Boy) and also the bad guy (Padmaavat). But as we just discussed, Suriya has done that too. And being older and more senior, he has a larger body of work as compared to Ranveer, where he has displayed greater variety of roles. Dhanush, of course, found critical acclaim much before Suriya. And his Bollywood appearances mean that he has a pan-India appeal too. But between Vikram’s national success and the National Award, Suriya is getting pan-India attention too. It is heartening to see that audiences outside Tamil Nadu are also waking up to something Tamil viewers have long known--Suriya is the most versatile leading man in Indian cinema today. And he plans to only get better from here on.