A Praiseworthy Bravo.

 

   'Soorarai Potru' {Praise the Brave}is a poignant narration of a larger vision,to bring all the underprileged sections of society to have access to the flying experience both as a necessity and a fulfilment of social obligation.Sutha Kongara who made films like Drohi and Irudhi Chutru,has come out with a genuine cry for an egalitarian achievement,so as to reduce the contemptuous gap between the haves and havenots.

  Tamil cinema has been travelling on this line for quite some time,focusing on the innate longing of the underdogs,to reach the next levels in life,through competitive surival programmes,besides exposing the spikes put by the privileged wolves,to quell such longings.Movies like Kala,Irudhi Chutru,Bigil and many more,would belong to this category.Here,the aspiration of the rustic,down trodden,reaches the height of making the ground meet the skies.

     Suriya's emotive vibrations always belong to an exemplary category.The struggles that he displays at an airport to buy an air ticket to see his bed ridden father awaiting his death,reveal his tremendous anguish born of deprivation of the right to occupy an already less quoted economy seat on a flight,for which he has the cash,but not for the last minute inflated tariff.It is this crucial moment which also deprives him of seeing even the dead body of his father,despite making multi travel modes to reach his home town,that forces him to think of making flight travel economically viable to all.Thus a personal ordeal becomes an inspiration for a common agenda,to make air travel affordable to all sections of people.

    The scenes of narration are mixed,front and back,along with the lyrics of many winged minds and the musical tunes rightly mixed up to the contextual calculations in narration.G.V.Prakash Kumar's music,not spoiling the lyrical richness reflecting the robust vibes of the rural soil,deserves a special pat.Aparna Balamurali as Bakery Bommi,is a fascinating foil for Suriya,with her number of broken marriage proposals matching the number of failures of Suriya,to start an aviation company.Urvasi usually known for her comedy flair does a magnificent job,while mourning aloud,the death and funeral of her husband,which happened during the helpless absence of her son.Whatever be the political side of Karunas,he has always proved to be a compact comdedian cum character actor, since the days of Bala's Nanda.Of late,his acting style has become a bit sobre and this sobriety brings out his intrinsic acting potential.

   Be it a butterfly or a sparrow a skyward journey is always an enchanting experience.The human passion for flying is a universal reality but the hero's passion in 'Soorarai Potru'is not one for flying but to make the need and experience of flying,as a product of low cost aviation.As the lyrics of the last song imply,he brings the skies within the arms'reach of the common man through his concern and love for the havenots.His radio interview in one scene,exhibits beautiful thoughts such as the people who are used to looking up at the skies in awe and admiration,are not in a position to look downward upon the earth from the skies,through a flying experience.

  Sutha Kongara who hails from the Mani Rathnam school,makes it a point to present the cinematic events as an exposition of collective emotions,rather than making it an individual's quest for a social benefit.That is why a theme fit for documentary presentation,has crossed its exclusive barriers,to become an enhanced course of celluloid events,involving characters who share the spirit of the struggle,to achieve the common goal of making air travel accessible to one and all,both in terms of money and pleasure.Every one of us would like to fly at least once in their life time.In this particular aspect,'Soorarai Potru'shows the possibility factors,through a Silver Screen experience.Perhaps a theatre watch of the film,would have brought at least this silver screen experience in flying,to the reach of more number of people.