Arousing music interflowing with an overwhelming sense of melancholia pulls us closer and deeper into the being of Surya S/O Krishnan. The very moment where the movie got off the ground, the titles gives us the hint of beauteous, yet mesmerizingly profuse as the tale of the movie is going to be. Quite a number of movies have been made earlier that shows the way how parents should dote and inculcate deeds in their grownup children and the children’s debt to take care of those parents and respect them. Running on the same wagon, Surya S/O Krishnan has been crafted beautifully, highlighting the love that bonds a father and son. The film can be categorised as a true piece of art, a classic which was destined to be cherished for decades in the hearts of the diverse audience.
There was a period when cinema had actresses and actors share the limelight equally. However, over the years it should have only improved but many actresses these days choose glamour to be noticed rather than “acting” and donning impactful roles. But there are hardly any directors who emphasise on such impact roles, who genuinely direct storylines that do not discriminate roles according to one’s gender and Gautam Menon is one who’s truly capable to pull all those off. Gautam Menon’s stories are usually simple and sensible that do not glorify anyone or anything else but real love. And, this movie is one such beautifully weaved masterpiece. With a competent star cast of Suriya Sivakumar, Simran, Sameera Reddy and Ramya, Gautam Menon has not abandoned a single opportunity to mesmerize the audience.
If Kamal Haasan had his Dasavatharam with oodles of make-up and a blast of Chaos Theory, then this can easily be called Surya’s Dasavatharam, minus a couple of incarnations, of course. Rarely do actors, even the good ones, get such scope and screen-space to play out every intricate detail. Suriya does a double-action role as both the father and the son. He truly nailed his character from two different generations and three different life scenarios. He never proved his “macho” ness to a woman, he never wanted to own her, and he only wanted to love her. He was understanding, gentle and an absolutely charming lover.
Playing a dual role as two characters is not an easy task, yet Surya handles the role of a 17-year-old teenage boy and a 60-year-old major, Krishnan. His acting talents are enormous which impresses the people to a great extent. His reactions are quite realistic in the emotional scenes where he hears the news of Meghna’s demise over the phone. A teenage boy, college student, charming lover, drug addict, commando, major, son’s dad; these were the myriad number of demeanours done plausibly by Surya in this movie. The beginning shots of a doddering Krishnan (Surya) at the far end of life, still eager to live his life, come with an expectant twist. Even as you appreciate the make-up and the body language that brings an old man to life, there’s a trim and fit Major Surya (Surya) in the Indian Army, who is part of a rescue mission.
Surya has obviously been on a roll. For those who thought a thirty-something could never go back to being a 17-year old, here’s a newsflash: with his paltry moustache and perky enthusiasm, Surya’s perfect. As a love-struck young man who falls flat on his face for Sameera Reddy, he’s adorable. As a drug addict faced with life’s greatest trials, he’s marvellous. But when he appears on screen as six-pack moulded Major, the whistles hit the roof. In every instance, he’s subtly altered his body language, the expression in his eyes, the indefinable something that marks the difference between a father and son and even in the various stages of a son’s life, he’s managed to alter himself. This one is evidently a magnum opus among the films he’s done so far.
What stood out in the film above all is the characters played by the leading ladies, especially Simran. An actress need not necessarily choose roles with some extremely strong, hard-worker who is not given equality. Doing a simple yet longer role which will remain etched in the hearts of a million is what’s important. Simran’s role was simply brilliant and needless to say she nailed the role with her extraordinary acting skills. Her transformation from a young college-going woman to an aged lady was very realistic. It is something rare to find in this generation of actresses. As for Sameera Reddy, she melted our hearts with her charm and Ramya’s presence was a delight to watch. The story as a whole only made us believe to never lose hope in love. There wasn’t stalking, murdering due to rejection or anything that demeaned one another or creating hatred.
The roles of these women were impactful in ways which provided a new dimension for choosing characters in a film. The characters of Simran, Sameera and Ramya were not dumbed down where the hero falls in love with a less intellectual heroine. These characters were their real self like all the real women in the country doing what they love while they fall in love.
Harris Jeyaraj’s songs have already become chart-busters; his background score gels well with the movie. The songs are way too impressive, that irrespective of all generations, people tend to hum it out through their hearts.
So, aren’t there any pitfalls? Is this Gautam Menon’s beautiful, perfect classic? Hardly. Yes, it’s a very moving tribute to a perfect father and loving son; the screenplay does move swiftly in the first half but at times, the father grows too perfect; the son too loving. Krishnan is so completely the ideal of a father-figure that you wonder if such men actually exist in real life. At three hours, this one is too long, a healthy snip would have made for much better viewing. Towards the end, you wonder if so much detail really is necessary.
But if you ignore the lagging last hour, some dialogues and too-ideal situations, the movie is clearly a movingly visualised tribute to fathers and sons by Gautam, and beautifully portrayed by Surya, a brilliant actor. The theme taken is good, but a bad screenplay fails the attempt. The sequences don’t seem to be merging at a point. It is not a clear line-up and makes us feel we are watching different episodes rather than a whole movie.
It might be just a feather in Gautam’s hat. As for Surya, it’s an ostrich plume, a justified triumph.
