Video on the making of Soorarai Pottru: Suriya defies age to look like a 19-year-old

The makers of the Suriya-starrer Soorarai Pottru, have teased fans by releasing a short vidoe on the making of the film. The four-minute video gives a glimpse into Suriya’s unbelievable transformation for his character in the Tamil movie.  

Directed by Sudha Kongara, Soorarai Pottru is based on the life of Captain GR Gopinath, the founder of Air Deccan. The film chronicles the journey of Captain Gopinath from the age of 19 to his forties. The video shows how Suriya sheds his beefed-up look for a leaner physique. 

In the video, Sudha is seen saying that she did not want Suriya’s character to have the physique of a bodybuilder. "I kept saying I wanted him (Suriya) to look leaner and he tried to convince me to go with his look back then. But I told him I wanted him to look even leaner. He kept joking that I’m going to make him stop eating to get the look,” she said.

The video shows Suriya working out like it’s no big deal. From sprinting effortlessly to doing pushups and burpees like he was born to do it, he makes everything look easy.

According to his trainer, it was a major challenge for Suriya to look two decades younger. The trainer said the actor would start doing body weight training wherever and whenever possible. In between shots and breaks, he’d would be working out and continuing to lose weight. Building mass is easier as one knows what to do, he added. 

Talking about his look in the film, the costume designer revealed that Suriya only wears four shirts and three trousers in the film. All his shirts were tailormade to fit him perfectly. Sudha said that he kept dropping weight at such a fast rate that the shirts became loose when they did a costume check two days before the shoot. 

In the video, Sudha recalls that when she first told Suriya that she wanted him to play the 19-year-old version of his character, the actor was taken aback. “I can’t play a 19-year-old,” he told her repeatedly. 

Towards the end of the video, Sudha says that she was shocked to see Suriya actually look like a 19-year-old. “It’s easier to lose weight and have a physique of a 19-year-old but it’s not easy to look 19. When he dropped weight, his skin didn’t look saggy. I was shocked because I don’t see such things happen around me,” she said.

The project, which marks Suriya’s maiden collaboration with a female director, also stars Aparna Balamurali, Paresh Rawal and veteran Telugu actor Mohan Babu in crucial roles.