In 2010, Sooraj Harris completed his acting course at Barry John Acting Studio in Mumbai. Five years later, he landed in his first role in Rani Padmini. For those who probably wonder, it wouldn’t be so hard to recollect his character which was named after a superstar — Shahrukh Khan. “It was when I was a part of the production team that writer Shyam Pushkaran came to me and said that he wanted me to do the Shahrukh role. He said I was the most apt one for the role. As a writer, if he frames a character in mind, he wouldn’t change it.”
“As a debutant, it was a great experience to work with Aashiq Abu and I was multi-tasking for Rani Padmini,” says Sooraj. Son of producer P.M. Harris, Sooraj says he doesn’t mind waiting to get a deserving role and is extremely uncomfortable with the tag ‘producer’s son’. “I clearly want to state that I don’t want that privilege. I want to get a role only if I deserve it.”
Now, Sooraj has bagged the role Y in the upcoming movie IDI or Inspector Dawood Ibrahim. He says it was his not-so-Mallu looks that favoured him. “I was rejected several times because of my north Indian looks. In IDI, however it completely goes with the character description. The only thing director Sajid Yahiya told me was it’s an extremely stylish role. Rest is suspense.”
Before his acting stint, Sooraj was working with ace ad director Sreekumar Menon. “Sreekumar is my mentor in everything. Starting as an assistant director, my purpose was to learn more about cinema and then get into acting. I started my career as a flight dispatcher and soon, I understood that this was not my future. One day, I told my father. He asked what I want to do and I said I want to act. Despite having a film background, my dad insisted I learn cinema and understand the whole process. He has never recommended for me, so I only owe him for his advice. He asked me to do the necessary preparation to be an actor and thus I joined Barry John.” He’ll also be seen with Vinay Forrt, Asif Ali and Unni Mukundan in Avarude Raavukal, directed by Shanil Muhammed.
