Why I turned a hero – ace comedian Soori reveals

With certain filmmakers, the issue of success or failure never arises. You just want to be part of their films at any cost. I just surrendered myself without even knowing anything about the script and offered myself like clay. It is up to him to mould it as a horse or an elephant," remarked top comedian Soori on national award winner Vetri Maaran, in whose flick he turns a hero.

Having rejected 40 hero offers earlier, it came as a surprise to everyone when Soori chose Vetri Maaran's script for his hero avatar. Sources say Vetri is trying an intense film akin to his earlier Oscar nominated Visaaranai.

Soori is modest and tells DC,  “Sir called me. I just gave my nod. I don’t even know whether I have a pair in it. It is more of a 'Vetri Maaran film' than Soori’s (smiles).”

The passion to act in films drove him to Chennai from his native place. “I hail from Madurai and we are six brothers. My parents were struggling to meet ends. However, I used to keep people around me in splits. My mom used to say that I have innate comic sense. One day I packed off to Chennai dreaming to make it big. However, it was not as easy as I thought and I did several odd jobs including as lorry cleaner and working as painter in many of the big shops of T.Nagar for their special hoardings. Though I started as an atmosphere artiste and did insignificant roles from 1999 (Sundar C’s Kannan Varuvaan), it took 13 long years to get my first break with Suseenthiran’s Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu. The film established me as an actor with a moniker ‘Parotta’ Soori.”

Soori is clear in his thinking when it comes to moving to other language films. “I have worked in almost 100 films with all top heroes and filmmakers. But I am not keen on other language offers. A hero or a character artiste can migrate to other language industry. But for a comedian, it is very difficult to make the audiences laugh without being proficient in the language you work. The exception being Kovai Sarala ma’am who rocks in Tollywood as well.”

The ace humourist says that they were ‘Golden Days’ for comedians when Goundamani, Senthil, and Vadivelu worked in Tamil cinema. “The reason being they were doing what is called ‘comedy track’. These tracks run parallel to the main story. The stars too had acceptance to be dominated by comedians. The culture of tracks is long gone now.  A film’s success or failure doesn’t affect a comedian. Some films have run even for comedy tracks alone. And you can give a certain number of days and move on to your next film. But in today’s scenario, I am working alongside the hero and appear throughout the film and hence it is one film at a time policy.”

He quickly adds, “I am very fond of emotional genre also and I am a biggest fan of legendary Nagesh sir’s emotional family dramas like Neerkumizhi where he was seen as an artiste rather than as a comedian. It is my dream to work in a such challenging content.”

Presently Soori is part of two biggies – Pandiraj-directed Sivakarthikeyan’s Namma Veettu Pillai, where he plays the elder brother. Interestingly, he essays a film hero with a twist in Vijay Sethupathi’s Sanga Tamizhan.

Unknown side of Soori

Very few may know that Soori is a hotelier as well. “My family was my biggest support and they have sacrificed for my sake. When I became somebody in life, I wanted to help all my brothers. My mother said, ‘we all struggled to get even onetime meal. So, I started a small hotel to provide quality food at reasonable cost. That’s how ‘Amman Coffee Bar’ started. Today, we have six branches of ‘Amman Hotel’ all over Madurai.”