It’s important to narrate stories of common people: Suriya

Hyderabad: Not just fantasy and larger-than-life characters, it’s important to narrate stories that discuss lives of common people, says Southern Star Suriya. Following the nation-wide recognition for his eponymous onscreen character that he played in ‘Jai Bhim’, the actor gets ready to tell another on-screen drama ‘Etharkkum Thunindhavan’ (ET) which is simultaneously being released in […]

Hyderabad: Not just fantasy and larger-than-life characters, it’s important to narrate stories that discuss lives of common people, says Southern Star Suriya. Following the nation-wide recognition for his eponymous onscreen character that he played in ‘Jai Bhim’, the actor gets ready to tell another on-screen drama ‘Etharkkum Thunindhavan’ (ET) which is simultaneously being released in Telugu on March 10.

For Suriya, ‘Jai Bhim’ and ‘Aakasam Nee Haddura’ are the most gratifying works that compelled him to look for different stories. “There are no stunt sequences in ‘Akasam Nee..’. And in ‘Jai Bhim’, I appear on the screen after 30 mins of drama. Both these have become more than just films in Southern states. Audiences felt that ‘Jai Bhim’ is an eye-opener. Many of us didn’t know we had native tribes living with us. Some of them are deprived of ration cards. A film can bring about a social change. This is what gave us the confidence to tell more stories. Definitely, every film can tell a story of our society – it’s important that these stories move us emotionally,” he says.

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His upcoming film ‘ET’ is about a typical village drama and challenges that society is currently facing. Be it Andhra, Telangana or interiors of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in the country, the story is a universal line and has an underlying social commentary that would strike a chord instantly with the audiences, the actor says who dubbed himself for the Telugu version.

The actor feels that the pandemic brought a sea change in everyone’s life. “It has changed everybody’s priorities. People got a little more clarity about where they want to be, what they want to do. I’ve seen my relatives changing places. A family I know returned from the US and moved to a little quieter place. Another family of mine shifted to Kodaikanal, and another one shifted base to Dubai. Someone closer to me shifted to Goa permanently. Pandemic has taught us to work remotely. The travel and hospitality industries are gradually reviving, hopefully, everybody can bounce back with vengeance. Destination weddings nowadays are happening in India itself,” he said.

Suriya feels OTT has blurred the borders of the entertainment industry. “A Kolkata man who accompanied me on the flight journey, said he watched both the films ‘Aakasam Nee Haddura’ and ‘Jai Bhim’ and subsequently started watching all my films. Thanks to ‘Baahubali’. And now ‘Pushpa’ has proved that a theatrical release is possible. Apparently, it changed the dynamics of the film business by clocking hundreds of crores at the box office. Applause to the people who have braved the pandemic. ‘Aha’ is aggressively coming to all the Southern states. Digital is giving an extra boost to the creative industry.”

OTT, multiplexes should co-exist

Will the emergence of OTT be a threat to the distribution business? The actor says, “None can stop evolution.. When theatres came on the market, the stage performers became jittery. They wondered how such a thing could happen? When television came, theatre people ruled that if a film comes on television every week, who will come to the theatre. You cannot stop evolution, we have to see we co-exist. We’ve clarity which content should come to the theatre and which content to OTT. Now everyone is ready to make big content on OTT. Otherwise, it was only Rajamouli doing big canvas films, now everyone would like to dabble with spectacular onscreen magic. A lot of Tamil heroes are coming to the Telugu industry and trying to make the distribution bigger. Sivakartikeya has done well here. Even Malayalam films are watched by the whole of India.”

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