Captain Gopinath watches Soorarai Pottru, ‘couldn’t help laughing and crying’ during family scenes

Captain GR Gopinath heaped praise on Soorarai Pottru, starring Suriya in the lead role. The film, directed by Sudha Kongara, is a dramatised retelling of Captain Gopinath’s life.

Captain GR Gopinath, whose life and book, Simply Fly, is the inspiration behind Suriya’s latest release Soorarai Pottru, took to Twitter to appreciate the film for doing justice to his story despite being heavily fictionalised. In a series of tweets, Gopinath was all praise for director Sudha Kongara and Suriya.

Even though he called the film ‘heavily fictionalised’, he raved about it for capturing the essence of his story and struggle. “Soorarai Pottru. Heavily fictionalized but outstanding in capturing the true essence of the story of my book. A real roller coaster. Yes, watched it last night. Couldn’t help laughing and crying on many family scenes that brought memories,” Gopinath wrote.

 

He said his story was dramatised “but true to the undying spirit of triumph of hope against struggles and tribulations of an entrepreneur with disadvantaged rural background over overwhelming odds.” He heaped special praise on Aparna Balamurali for portraying his wife’s character perfectly.

“The portrayal of my wife Bhargavi by Aparna was very well etched out, of a woman who had her own mind, strong but soft, feisty and fearless and an inspiration to rural women especially who are equal and can be entrepreneurs in their own right,” he wrote.

 

 

“And Suriya was powerful and carried off the part of an entrepreneur obsessed to the point of madness that makes dreams come true. A timely and great uplifting story in these times of gloom,” he added.

 

He congratulated Sudha Kongara for balancing a male-centric story with a strong female character, played by Aparna Balamurali. “And kudos and big salute to Director Sudha, to have balanced very deftly a male centric story lead by Suriya by portraying a wife acted by Aparna who was a powerful counter balance in an inspiring and heartwarming way,” he wrote.

 

Soorarai Pottru had its world premiere on Amazon Prime earlier this week. It is a film based on the life of Captain GR Gopinath – founder of the budget airline Air Deccan. The project, which marked Suriya’s maiden collaboration with a female director, also features Aparna Balamurali, Paresh Rawal and veteran Telugu actor Mohan Babu in crucial roles.