Banner: Sun Pictures

Produced by: Murugan Cine Arts

Cast: Vijay, Tamannah, Vadivelu, Dev Gill

Music: Mani Sharma

Direction: SP Rajakumar

Sura is yet another good experience of watching a mass Vijay film. After Vettaikaaran, Vijay in an interview to an unethical weekly said, “Sura will be a similar film. As usual, a Vijay film”. And true to his words, his 50th film Sura is a mass commercial similar to his previous releases but never fails in delivering what it is meant to do – Entertainment.

Story- It is evident that the story baselines on Vijay’s future political aspirations but at the same time it cannot be denied that it revolves around real life social issues of fishermen. A common man Sura (Vijay) who is a do-gooder in a fishermen slum turns into their leader eventually and in his attempt to get them safe houses for living, he crosses paths with an evil minister who plans for a theme park in their place. The minister tries to evacuate them by eliminating Sura and even offers him a deal to negotiate. Sura refuses it and vows to achieve his goal of building safe houses for his people. How he manages to do it forms the rest of the plot.

Screenplay- Mass films follow a tried and tested template, a question paper of open ended questions. Like how hero fights for justice, how hero saves heroine from villain, how hero wins over villain etc. How best the director answers these decides the success of the film. As for SP Rajakumar, there is nothing out of the world or which you haven’t seen before in the screenplay. But he has handled it well; atleast tried his level best to do it. In particular, the second half was racy and engaging, better than the first half. Not to forget the excellent sequence before interval in first half.

Direction- Considering the previous films of SP Rajakumar and accounting the fact that he is no Dharani or Lingusamy to have excelled in mass films; he has done a good job for this film. It is to be mentioned here that no hero will have the heart to trust such a less known director for his 50th film and for whatever reason Vijay took the risk, the director has given the best he can, in this film. Instead of simply glorifying hero’s physical power, there are scenes which shows how intelligently he handles villain’s moves, which is to be appreciated.

Dialogues - There is a lot of political touch in many scenes but all dialogues were true in words and feelings, not any sugar-coated sweet nothings. Especially the ones before the interval were very powerful.

Cinematography- The camera work of MS Prabhu and Ekambaram captures the mighty sea and simple human beings, the poor fishermen slum and rich song locales, everything well. The night sequences also have been shot well.

Stunts- There are just 3 major stunts in the film which are choreographed well by Kanal Kannan. The risks Vijay has taken are evident in many places. The ones in second half are the best, kudos for the one around Audi car. The BGM work for stunt scenes is also good.

Editing- Its fine and done as required for the film, special mentions to the work in the action sequences and songs Siragadikkum Nilavu and Thajavur Jillakari. It could have been crisper in first half in few scenes.

Tamannah- Tamannah looks cute, does her limited scenes well, looks good with Vijay and dances well. But there is not much of a role for her to play. It is known that heroines have limited scope in mass commercial films, but Tamannah’s character has been poorly etched by the director that it looks amateurish and is reduced almost to nothing in second half. Wish she had something more to do like what Anushka had in Vettaikaaran.

Supporting Cast - The villain Dev Gill does a good job and fits the bill except for the bad lip sync in some scenes. Comedian Vadivelu as Umbrella was okay, and not as good as his previous outings with Vijay. He has managed to give rolling-on-the-floor comedies with Vijay but here he just managed to evoke smiles with rib-tickling comic sequences. Another fact is that the comedy in second half is a separate track from the film which makes its impact less. The rest of the cast performs well.

BGM- The background score was good in most scenes, especially in the action sequences. The Sura theme harmony and the powerful “Enga kula saami” bit in first half were also good.

Songs- Songs are one of the high points of the film. Well choreographed, performed and beautifully shot, they look fantabulous on screen. If anyone felt that Vijay’s dance movements were restrained in his recent films, here he proves it wrong. He dances like a dream; especially his work in the last song (Naan nadandhal adhiradi) is out of this world. If you are a die hard fan, you will definitely realize pains in your arms and legs as you watch Vijay effortlessly perform the most difficult moves in outdoors. Others worth mention are Thanjavur Jillakari and Vanga Kadal Ellai. The unusually slow intro song is neatly done with graceful steps.

Vijay- Without any big names from Tamil industry in his team, only Vijay can carry a film wholly on his shoulders. Sura is yet another example of that. His expressions, voice modulations (the one like TR is awesome), style and attitude everything suits his character well and above all – his dance. He proves that he is god of film dance with Sura featuring some of his best dance movements till date. He never fails to deliver and he is always a delight to watch on screen. Sura is no exception.

So, why is Sura special? There can be excitements all over the world to fascinate you. Your home offers you nothing new everyday, but still you feel happy at home. Sura is such a feeling of film viewing for a Vijay fan. Also Vijay has already started working on different genre of commercial films for which his 51st film will be a starter. If he is staying off from mass masala films for sometime, this is the chance for now to cheer him up in such films.

While it is understood that every one of us wants him to work with big names in the industry, we should not deny taking the pride of what best Vijay can give with even lesser known names. Above everything, he entertained us, entertains us and will entertain us forever.

What’s best?

1. Vijay

2. Songs, their choreography and picturization

3. Entertaining presentation

What could have been done better?

1. Tamannah’s characterization and her love sequences with Vijay

2. Comedy especially in second half

Verdict: Cool family entertainer for summer

Written by KSR for OVF