Suriyan is a 1992 Tamil-languageaction film written and directed by Pavithran starring Sarath Kumar and Roja in lead roles and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The movie featured Shankar as an associate director. The film revolves around IPS officer Suriyan who is forced to flee after being framed for shooting a minister. After reaching a new hamlet he shaves his hair and beard and pretends to have forgotten his past. What really happened to Suriyan and how he will prove his innocence forms the rest of the story. This big budget production won positive reviews and became the first major success for Sarath Kumar as a hero. The film became a blockbuster and was a trendsetter for action films in Tamil. It was also dubbed in Telugu as Mande Suryudu.
Plot
One day, Chettiyar amma finds a man shivering due to intense cold weather in Top Slip, Pollachi. She immediately rescues him and treats him like her own son. The man’s original name in Suriyan, an IPS officer, but he hides his identity and prefers being called as Mottai. Suriyan gets employed as a driver to Usha, the only arrogant daughter of a rich landlord Koopu Konar. Usha ill-treats Suriyan but upon realizing his true identity, she feels confused. Suriyan tells his back story. Suriyan, an IPS officer is employed in Security forces. During an international summit in Bangalore, the home minister of India urges Suriyan to devise a strategy to assassinate the Prime Minister of India promising him a few thousands of dollars in return. Suriyan gets furious and kills the home minister for which he is wanted by the police. Suriyan escapes from them and hides in Top Slip as he previously overheard home minister’s conversation to his henchman Micky. Suriyan hides his identity and keeps monitoring the forest to trace the activities of Micky, so that he can prove his innocence. Usha falls in love seeing Suriyan’s dedication to nation. She elopes from her house and marries Suriyan contrary to her father’s wishes. Meanwhile, Suriyan finds some suspicious activities in the forest and keeps track of them to gather evidence. Finally he finds out that Micky is under the protection of Koopu Konar and Micky plans to assassinate Prime Minister during his visit to Pollachi. Police trace the whereabouts of Suriyan and arrest him. Micky and Koopu Konar plan to kill Suriyan, so that they are saved. Koopu Konar secretly plants a bomb while visiting Suriyan in prison, but unfortunately, Koopu Konar himself gets killed in the attack. Suriyan escapes from prison and finds out Micky and kills him. In the end, the Prime Minister visits Suriyan and thanks him for his dedication.
After the success of Vasanthakala Paravai, K. T. Kunjumon again collaborated with cast and crew of that film in a new project titled Suriyan. For the role, Sarathkumar had to shave his head. The film was shot at different locations including Top Slip and places in Rajasthan.
Soundtrack
The film's songs and background score is composed by Deva. The lyrics for all the songs were written by Vaali.
Reception
Suriyan was released on 14 August 1992. On the same day, The Indian Express wrote "Sooriyan is a racy entertainer that keeps the viewers attention engaged till the end". New Straits Times praised director that he "succeeds in keeping the viewers in suspense" but criticised the stunt sequences for being unconvincing. The film became a blockbuster and established Sarathkumar as a star.
Legacy
Comedy track performed by Goundamani from the film became popular. His dialogue "Arasiyalla Ithellam Satharanampa" became popular. This is one of the few movies where Goundamani features without his partner Senthil but proves his mettle. The dialogue also inspired a show of same name in Aditya TV.
