Suriya is not an actor who came into the industry, all guns blazing. He took time to come into his own and to shape himself — physically and mentally. In the two decades since he discovered the actor in him, he has featured in a number of hits and misses. If you've liked his work in Sudha Kongara's Soorarai Pottru, co-starring Aparna Balamurali, check out these films that offer you a peek into what makes him tick as a performer.
Director: Vignesh Shivan
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video
In this heist comedy, a remake of the Hindi blockbuster Special 26, Suriya plays a trickster. Ramya Krishnan, Keerthy Suresh and half-a-dozen actors join him in pulling off fake income tax raids.
Director: Bala
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video
Pithamagan allows Suriya to be carefree and kind of reckless. He doesn't arch his eyebrows to take a pause and deliver a punch dialogue. And he doesn't go all Jim Carrey either. He has fun, and lets the viewers know that he's having the time of his life (the climactic portion, though, is pretty dark).
Director: AR Murugadoss
Available on: SunNXT
Ghajini is probably the reason why Murugadoss is called the Nolan of Tamil cinema — the core plot point is lifted from Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000), where the hero suffers from anterograde amnesia. Suriya's performance as a man seeking vengeance is commendable.
Director: KV Anand
Available on: SunNXT
Inspired by numerous Hollywood films about drugs, this Suriya and Tamannaah-starrer is a hot-paced thriller where something or the other keeps happening on screen. This isn't the Breaking Bad of Indian cinema, but comes close.
Director: Ameer Sultan
Available on: SunNXT
Mounam Pesiyadhe tapped into a new side of Suriya. The comedy bits sprinkled through the movie are funny even today. What makes this movie immensely likeable is fact that Suriya's character doesn't try too hard to be loved by everybody — it's something you see in Soorarai Pottru, as well.
Director: Mani Ratnam
Available on: YouTube
This film brought three Tamil heartthrobs — Suriya, Madhavan, and Siddharth — together on screen. Esha Deol, Meera Jasmine and Trisha also feature in this political drama where love songs effortlessly sit alongside action scenes.
Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon
Available on: YouTube
This is the film that made the rest of the nation notice Suriya. There are so many emotional highs and lows that his two characters travel through in this two-hour-fifty-minute drama. It's a film he can be proud of even 50 years down the road.