Soori’s journey started with humble beginnings, he hails from a small village Rajakkoor in Madurai District and despite soaring to great heights, he has remained grounded, preserving his small-town charisma. This year has been exceptionally significant for his career on multiple fronts. Not only has he achieved commercial success, but his films have also garnered critical acclaim, earning recognition on the international stage. He has also put in plenty of effort for Garudan in terms of body language, dialogue delivery and getting into the skin of the character.

A quick look at his international rendezvous and then back to his career here. His Kottukkaali directed by P S Vinothraj became the first Tamil film to premiere at the Berlin Film International Film Festival and has now gone to the Transilvania International Film Festival. The shoot of Viduthalai Part 2 is still filming but was combined with Viduthalai Part I and released at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2024. The team was given a standing ovation for five minutes. Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and had a positive response.

Looking back at his career path, he initially received minuscule parts but that did not deter him from his dream. He went on to make a name for himself with his role in Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2009). His role in this film which featured the famous ‘parotta competition’ scene where he shocks the hotelier by eating 50 parottas and getting ready to eat the same number once again brought him the suffix “Parotta.”

Viduthalai was the film that freed him from the shackles of being a comedian and had him playing police constable Kumaresan. The gritty film dealt with police brutality and their excesses.

We asked him what it took mentally and physically to shift into this space as a protagonist and he says, “I find playing the protagonist comes easier than being a comedian. I had more work as a comedian as it’s not easy to make people laugh, I had to constantly come up with new ideas. Creating a comedy punch takes a lot of effort, for instance if I worked on ten comedy punches, only two would work. Amongst these I would split it up into ideas where people would just laugh or clap and laugh. From waking up to getting to the shoot and on the sets, there would always be something running through my mind. Now as a hero, I give myself completely to the Director. I just do whatever my directors tell me and I am confident that I can carry it off with flair onscreen.

“Speaking about getting physically ready, I needed to be fit to play comedian. I have always given priority to fitness. It started from Seemaraja where they wanted me to get a six pack, I did it and after that got quite interested in fitness. I think this could have been a factor for me bagging the role as Kumaresan in Viduthalai.

“When I saw the audience reaction to my role in Viduthalai, my first as a hero, it gave me a lot of confidence. It was a powerful author-backed role and the director’s view. Because it was Vetrimaaran, I was 50% free of worries and another 50% of my mind was freed because the script was really superb. He knows how to mount his movies. When I went to watch Viduthalai on the first day, the Soori I saw onscreen was something totally different and new and the audience echoed this sentiment. I was very happy at the response. I have been true to cinema, loved cinema and worked hard for it and it has paid off.”

We quizzed him on what kind of difference he brought to his role as constable in and he replied, “I was Kumaresan! The Director detailed the kind of body language and mental make-up of the character and I carried this out. Say for instance if the character was angry, the parameters of expressing anger with relation to the character and script were clearly defined.

“Working with Director Vetrimaaran was superb. Working as a comedian, it was a different school, working with him was like special class after school. It gave me the confidence that I could handle anything.”

Every actor has his own way of approaching the craft and when we asked Soori about his take on this, he responded that his acting is script-based. “I don’t have a dream role as such. If I like a story, I will do whatever the role is.”

His Garudan is being much talked about and is directed by R S Durai Senthilkumar with the story by Vetrimaaran. It has a large star cast that includes Samuthrakani, Sasikumar and others and we asked him if he had no hang ups about that, “Each character has its place in the scheme of things and I think that’s good. If I think that since I play the lead role, I should be everywhere, the screenplay will get spoiled. When you watch the film, you will realise how well the Director has etched out my character.

“The Soori in Viduthalai was something completely unexpected by the audience and Garudan will be another surprise. I play a character called Sokkan whom I am sure the audience will like. I am sure that my performance and acting will get noticed.”

When nudged to reveal a bit more, he said, “Sokkan is a character stuck between loyalty and fair play. Very loyal to boss and ready to do anything and not allow anything to harm him.”

When asked how he would respond if he received offers for comedy roles again, Soori expressed, “The audience has responded positively to me as a hero, so why would I look back? I intend to continue down this path. However, if I were offered a role as a comedic hero, I might consider it. I am listening to many scripts and whether it will work for me and also the co-stars. I should travel along with them.

On acting with stars in other languages, he says, “Malayalam actors give a lot of importance to co-stars. They focus on good scripts and are ready to experiment.

“I worked on Director Ram’s Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai with Nivin Pauly and was very happy throughout the film, he became a close friend. He would crack jokes during a serious scene and that was tough to handle. He would be up to mischief. He’s a great actor, he would act with his eyes.

“Director Ram’s making is like that of an English film. He expects a lot from actors, a lot of perfection and is a hard worker. He has showered me with a lot of love and I learnt a lot.”

Speaking about going overseas to film festivals, he said, “Going to the film festival was a new experience. As a comedian, my costumes would probably be like two dhotis and chappals and mostly shoots in Theni, Pollachi and Madurai. This has taken me to overseas audience, something I could not even have imagined. Every audience had a positive response. Many of the foreigners who watched it and were awed. They found 3 films from same state at the film festival and I was there in all. They concluded that I must be a big artiste, and they praised my acting. After hearing that I had been a comedian turned protagonist, their collective reaction was ‘wow’. These films are not just ‘festival’ films but will be commercially
enjoyed too.

We ask him about his family and he gets quite sentimental, “25 Years ago, we were running Amman Tea Stall and as my mother wished, it evolved into Amman Restaurant. When I came to the film industry, I struggled a lot for even basic meals and this inspired me to continue in the food industry. We are known for the delicious and quality food that we provide at reasonable prices. We have had good patronage by customers, and earned a name. We have nine branches in Madurai, one is non- vegetarian and the rest are vegetarian.

“On the personal front, we are a joint family. Since I stay in Chennai, ours is a nuclear family. have six brothers and till today it’s a joint family at Madurai and I attribute my success to this. Their support is what has brought me so far,” he signs off with a smile.