Birthday special: 5 roles of Suriya that prove he's a risk taker and no one except him could've pulled off

Suriya Sivakumar, popularly known as Suriya is one of the most talented and versatile actors in the South film industry. Despite predominantly working in the Tamil industry, he is well known among Telugu and other language audiences too. And it's only because of his performance in films like Ghajini, Vaaranam Aayiram, Aayutha Ezhuthu, Singam, Soorarai Pottru, Jai Bhim, and more. 

It is said that with a great position comes immense expectations and responsibility. And it's not easy to abide by the position and win the hearts of the audience as well. Even the king couldn't do it sometimes, but Suriya has managed to do so. Yes, he is the only one actor who never fears to experiment with his looks and characters in films. The actor doesn't believe in going the easy way. 

Suriya is one of the biggest superstars in Tamil. He has a huge responsibility towards his fans to fulfill their expectations. And the easy way to do that is to act in films that can work commercially well with elements like action and romance. But he doesn't believe in that formula. He wants to give his best whenever he comes on the screen. In a long and stellar career, he has been one of the few actors to balance stardom and performances with great finesse.

On the occasion of Suriya's birthday, let's take a look at his performances that prove he is a risk-taking actor. 
 

Ghajini

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Videos

I would definitely want to start my list with Ghajini. I was a kid when I watched Ghajini, watching an actor give that level of performance was a sheer awestruck moment for me. His role as Sanjay made an imprint on the viewer's mind and is still remembered as one of his best performances ever. The film was released in 2005. Can you imagine?
 
It is not a usual thing for audiences to get a chance to watch such a performance. Suriya gave a powerful performance as a person suffering from anterograde amnesia after his girlfriend's death. The actor went all bald with a six-pack body for his role and proved he is the most dedicated actor ever.

Soorarai Pottru

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Videos

When you are on top of your game, you wouldn't want to take any risks. But that's not Suriya. The time when the entire process of the film industry and audience changed due to the pandemic, he took a risk and came up with the biographical film Soorarai Pottru. And that's not it, he didn't have any fears or thoughts of releasing his big-budget movie on the OTT platform. When every filmmaker and actor was skeptical to release their films on OTT, he just came forward and conquered the entire thing. 

After almost one difficult year when movie buffs were eagerly waiting to watch a good movie, Suriya's Soorarai Pottru came and emerged as a winner. Being the biopic of Simplifly Deccan founder, G. R. Gopinath, Suriya essayed the titular role and shared a story of the middle class who has dreams as high as the sky and how he manages to succeed. 

Quite different from his previous movies, this film showed the talented actor in a different light. He came out as someone who wasn't afraid of trying new things, and this film was yet another example of his knack for picking risky roles.
 

Jai Bhim

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Videos

Being a big actor, nobody wants to touch sensitive topics like caste, questioning judiciary and government. But Suriya did. And what he did was beyond awesome. He brought a whole new change with his portrayal as lawyer Chandu in the blockbuster film Jai Bhim. The movie is based on a true event and shows caste discrimination with an honest portrayal of police brutality. What the National award-winning actor performed and showed on the screen will be remembered for years. 

With Jai Bhim, Suriya has shown that he is not in the industry just to provide entertainment but also to enlighten social issues and bring them to a wider range of audiences. 

Post Jai Bhim, the actor became pan Indian without even a 'pan Indian movie'. This intense courtroom drama became a turning point in the second innings of his career.
 

Vikram

Where to watch: Netflix

With back to back two hits like Jai Bhim and Soorarai Pottru, which made it to the Oscars list, everyone wondered what his next would be. But little did anyone think that the actor would surprise audiences with a cameo role 'Rolex' in a Vikram starring Kamal Haasan in the lead role. It's quite rare for actors to play cameos or second leads in films that feature big superstars because of the fear of not getting a screen presence. However, Suriya had no such fears or thoughts. He literally took a role that gave a screen space of five minutes and that too at the end of the film. And well that was enough for him to grab the audience's attention. 

Even though, Suriya was on screen for all of five minutes in Vikram, his diabolically delightful portrayal of the villain Rolex was enough to make him the talking of a point. His portrayal in a negative role for the first time made theatres go berserk. The madness for Rolex sir is a pure example of talent and star power. 

With such performances, nobody would ever want or think about typecasting Suriya to a particular genre or role. Because he is the master of all. The amount of risks he takes with each movie is purely incredible and proves his versatility as well. 

Kanguva

Where to watch: Theatres soon

Suriya is coming back with another such risk-taking role performance with his upcoming film Kanguva. He is playing the role of a warrior in an out-and-out period action drama. According to reports, he will be seen in a double role, as a warrior from a different timeline, and a modern man. The first glimpse of Suriya from the was released as a treat to fans on his birthday and left everyone astonished with his amazing transformation for the film, which clearly features him in a never-seen-before avatar.

That's not it, Suriya is going for a global release with Kanguva. The film will be released in ten languages including Indian and others.

ALSO READ: 25 years of Suriya: 2 decades, 50 films, numerous awards, audience favourite- Finest actor of Indian cinema