"Thank you for coming in so early in the day,” Suriya says, settling down to talk. There’s a long day ahead of him, with a line-up of interviews. He answers each question with a warmth and earnestness that belie his starry aura. Suriya commands immense attention and respect in Telugu film circles just as he does in Tamil cinema. Through the conversation, he talks about the need to look beyond regional barriers and why he wants to be more than an actor.
A Rs.75 crore science fiction project is due for release and the actor-producer beams with pride. “We should be able to take our children to well-made Indian films, not just Hollywood releases. I keep saying that 24 is a Disney-like film. It’s a science fiction, one that’s been narrated in simple terms. We deal with time travel but you don’t need to know physics, chemistry or mathematics to appreciate it,” he says.
Time travel
Director Vikram Kumar was in talks with Suriya for the Tamil remake of Manam . “I wasn’t too keen on a remake, so I thought I'd meet him and turn it down, politely. When he met me, he said he has a different story,” recalls Suriya. What was to be a 30-minute meeting stretched to 4.5 hours.
He looks around and says, “A room this large wouldn’t be sufficient when Vikram moves around, enacting the different characters. I sat glued; I hadn’t heard such a story in a long time.”
Suriya straddles three roles — a wheelchair-bound Athreya who has shades of grey (“Kids seem to be attracted to negative characters, let’s see if they like Athreya,” quips Suriya), Mani who romances Samantha, and scientist Sethuraman. He’s been in that space of handling two, even three, roles before, and doesn’t think it’s a big deal. “I’ve been in the industry for 18 years, it’s time I push myself. Kamal sir has done 10 complicated roles in one film. What I’m doing is simple in comparison. When I did Ghajini , I was thinking of how to make people relate to the 15-minute short term memory loss. I grow as an actor with such films.”
> 7am Arivu ( Seventh Sense in Telugu) and > Maattraan ( Brothers ) had elements of science, but with 24 , Suriya believes he’s treading a different path. “We still keep talking about Aditya 369 and Mr. India . It’s time we make such films. I like watching masala films where a hero bashes up a villain, but we need films that will have a longer shelf life. People remember Sagara Sangamam ( Salangai Oli in Tamil), > Eega , > Baahubali and > Manam long after they leave the hall. Kamal Haasan, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, K. Vishwanath and Rajamouli didn’t hesitate to do those films,” he says.
The > Singam ( Singham in Telugu) series, Suriya feels, doesn’t fall into the regular hero-bashing-villain films. “I’ve had people tell me that they decided to join the police force after watching Singam . I learnt that clippings of Singam and > Kaakha Kaakha have been shown during police training,” he shares.
> Anjaan ( Sikander ), he admits, didn’t shape up as he expected it to.
For 24 , the onus was to get a good technical team. “Jothika’s brother who has worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan Johar and Priyadarshan, was a huge help in getting us get good art direction and CGI teams. We roped in British make-up artist Clover Wootton,” says Suriya.
Though he talks at length about the film, he refuses to spill the beans on the significance of 24 in the title. “The Rs. 75 crore film has the answer,” he laughs. The Telugu version will have dubbing artiste Srinivasa Murthy dub for Suriya. The actor dubbed in Telugu for Rakta Charitra and Brothers and admits not being able to spare a week to ten days to dub in other Telugu films. “Karthi manages to do that. I know I should, too,” he says.
The prophecy
As Suriya winds up the conversation, he remembers his initial years in the industry. “There were upsetting moments as I struggled to establish myself. I wasn’t a born actor. Appa (father and actor Sivakumar) said that his friend, an astrologer, told him that his son will become a famous actor. He thought it was Karthi. He was shocked when the astrologer took my name and also added that I would be in a love marriage. Appa asked him to leave,” laughs Suriya.
On working in Telugu films: “I’ve known Chandrasekhar Yeleti since Anukokunda Oka Roju ; we’ve been discussing ideas. I lost an opportunity to work with Rajamouli. Now, if I do a Telugu film, it will have to be better than what Karthi did in > Oopiri . Trivikram Srinivas and I have been discussing three ideas. Hopefully we’ll be able to finalise soon.”
Jothika’s next: Suriya hopes to release her Tamil film > 36 Vayathinile in Telugu. “We are also in talks with director Bramma (of > Kuttram Kadithal fame) for her next film,” he says.
