Soorarai Pottru breaks the awards jinx; Suriya wins the Best Actor award for a feature film at IFFM

Suriya won the Best Actor award at this year's Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) for Soorarai Pottru, which also bagged the award for Best Film
Suriya wins the Best Actor awrad for Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru at the IFFM
Suriya wins the Best Actor awrad for Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru at the IFFM

Actor Suriya, who received critical acclaim for his performance in the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru, has now bagged the Best Actor award for the same at this year’s Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).

The film festival took place virtually on Friday due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talking about how he felt after receiving the award, Suriya said, “This is the first time I’m being a part of this. Sincere thanks first to all the jury members, all the dignitaries, all the organizers. It’s fantastic to be a part of this. Thanks a lot for selecting me and giving me this award. I’m sure all the nominees have given their best, and I have a lot of respect for them.

“Sorrarai Pottru is very special for me. I would like to say this, maybe I’ve not shared this before. This is the first award for Soorarai Pottru, the first award I’m getting for Soorarai Pottru. Moreover, this is the first film that came during the pandemic. Thanks to all fans and well-wishers. They’ve given us so much love,” Suriya said.

He also thanked Sudha Kongara, director of Soorarai Pottru, and went on to talk about how this film had reignited his love and passion for his career. Suriya further explained the amount of hard work Sudha had put into this movie. The actor said, “I felt more with what I was doing. (During) almost 20 years of career, I’ve thought like, ‘What am I doing?’ and I started actually not liking some of my past few films. I really wanted some change, and thanks to my director Sudha…”

He added, “This film was her ten years’ dream, and she worked almost four years on the writing itself. So without Sudha, I’m not Maara (Suriya’s character in the movie). Soorarai Pottru is not without my director Sudha Kongara.”

Suriya divulged some behind-the-scenes incidents as well and spoke about how Sudha had been uncompromising when it came to her movie. “She was almost like this ringmaster, no compromise on the shooting spot,” he added.

The actor then moved on to talk about the kind of feedback the team had received for Soorarai Pottru. He said, “We finished the film in 60 days, and as said earlier, this film speaks about hope and inspiration. A lot of entrepreneurs have confidence to go ahead with this ‘testing time’, and that’s the feedback they’ve giving. As a team, we can’t ask for more, getting wonderful feedback saying you’ve inspired us in this stressful time. It’s really overwhelming to get this recognition in the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. It means a lot.”

Suriya also spoke about what an honour it was to share Captain Gopinath’s life story through Soorarai Pottru. “Buying a low-cost airline made a common man fly for a one-rupee ticket. Such an honour to tell this story. So yes, Soorarai Pottru is very special, and can’t ask for more,” he asserted.

“This is the first film on aviation in south India, so it was a testing time for us, but everything was possible because of this gentleman here,” he concluded, pointing to his co-producer Rajshekhar.

Moving on to other topics, Suriya jovially said that he was sure he might get lost in Australia if he ever visited, and that he now missed not being there for the festivities.

Replying to his statement, television actor Vince Colosimo, who was part of the IFFM jury, said, “Suriya Sir, you are very handsome. You may have to bring bodyguards if you come to Australia.”

Related Stories

No stories found.
Indulgexpress
www.indulgexpress.com