With a day’s gap in between and starting today, we have a string of new releases this week and you will be seeing me more often. And don’t forget to shower all your love to us this Diwali on our brand new website. So lets get to business. One of the toughest industries to start a new venture and survive is the airline industry. There have been many big players in the past who have entered the business and eventually burnt their fingers. But there have been a few success stories too. So, I have just finished watching the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru which is loosely based on the life of GR Gopinath, the owner of Air Deccan. Is the movie worth your time, lets find out. 

Based on a novel by the name Simply Fly, Soorarai Pottru is the story of a former air force pilot who plans to enter the aviation industry with a low cost carrier. His venture has many obstacles on the way. The story is fresh with a high concept. The screenplay is such that it will take you some amount of time to warm up to it. But 20 minutes into the drama you will nicely settle into it. While many of the plot points might seem to be convenient and just about scratching the surface, the plot points still evoke that interest on what will happen next and how will Maaru, our lead rise above the situation at hand. The same pace is maintained in the second hour too with many heart warming moments. On the flip side, the love story particularly in the first half is an eye sore and slackens the drama considerably. The multiple songs do not help its cause too. I just wonder had this been written as a webseries, the characters(barring the lead) could have been better fleshed out and the important plot points that seemed to be convenient would have added more depth. The music and dialogues are decent. Director Sudha Kongara who is known to direct Saala Khadoos has done a good job here. The story at hand was a high concept one and she has delivered the goods quite well. 

The performances are good but majorly revolves around its superstar lead. Prakash Belawadi as Prakash Babu has done a good job in a cameo. So has Achyuth Kumar as Anantha. Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Chitra is fairly decent. Aparna Balamurali as Sundari has done a good job though her character could have been better written. Paresh Rawal as Paresh Goswami is the main antagonist here. While he does a good job, you can’t help but take note that he neither has dubbed for his role nor has he mouthed his Tamil dialogues, so that turned out to be a distraction. The film solely relies on its main lead Suriya who does a marvelous job as Maaru. He is the glue in the film and literally and single handedly holds the film together. 

At 150 minutes, Soorarai Pottru could have been trimmed a little further. Despite its unnecessary subplots(particularly in the first hour), it is a high concept film that is inspiring and a feel good film that will leave a smile on your face at the end. Available on Amazon Prime.