Sarfira Review | A Downgraded, Emotionally Slimmer Version of Soorarai Pottru

If you are someone who believes that Soorarai Pottru was an exceptionally well-made film, then the chances of you finding Sarfira as an engaging good film are really high. As a viewer, I had my share of issues with the screenplay of Soorarai Pottru, as the dramatization tweaks sort of made the movie predictable. It was actually Suriya’s performance and the overall emotional element in the storytelling that made me root for the film. When it comes to Sarfira, the layer of emotional connection is getting extremely slim. The evident loudness without depth makes it a thinner version of the original.

Veerendra Mhatre, aka Vir is our main man who was in the Air Force. Certain life circumstances made him realize that civil aviation was an area where the common man had less access. His experiences made him do something that nobody thought about at that point in time: a low-cost aviation facility for the common man. His relentless pursuit to achieve that and all the struggles he had to go through is what we see in Sarfira.

As I said in the beginning, despite the beats being predictable and dramatized for a heroic mounting, Soorarai Pottru made a very emotional connection with the audience. Somewhere, you could sense yourself forgiving the flaws because the performances of actors like Suriya and Urvashi were making you root for the intent of those characters. What Sarfira lacks is that depth. When you see the long-haired version of both Suriya and Akshay Kumar on screen, Akshay’s version feels less emotionally connected. Be it him arguing with his father or crying on reaching home after his father’s death or that dancing version when Rani comes to see him with her family, you sort of feel a fancy dress hastiness rather than character establishment.

The movie does not have any significant changes from the original screenplay written by Sudha Kongara and Shalini Usha Devi. But there is a sense of exaggeration and hurried nature when it comes to the Hindi version. The scene where the hero convinces the venture capitalist character, played by Prakash Belawadi, had a memorable use of the breaking of the 180-degree rule in the Tamil version. The axis shifts the moment the hero makes the investor think in a different way. But in Sarfira, that sequence has been conceived in a very routine way with no major charm. This lack of enthusiasm in crafting scenes is somewhat evident when you look at the overall emotional quotient of the film. Even the music of the film is struggling to register in our minds.

Akshay Kumar is earnest when the character is not wearing any sort of wiggs. The script offers him ample space to not be a Khiladi and be more of an actor, and the man uses the opportunity to show the world that the acting chops aren’t that bad. But for someone who has seen Suriya’s performance, the lack of a solid emotional impact is pretty obvious. Similar was the case with Radhika Madan. She has that vivacious and determined energy, but when compared to what Aparna Balamurali pulled off, the memorable factor is missing. And also, the chemistry between the lead pair wasn’t that great on screen. Paresh Rawal repeats the same part in this remake and has that required animated disgust in his performance. Seema Biswas, as Vir’s mother, is fine. But not as memorable as Urvashi in the original.

On the whole, Sarfira feels like an emotionally slimmer version of Soorarai Pottru, with almost every element, like performance, craft, and storytelling, having a downgraded feel to its credit. I am not sure whether this is because I had seen the Tamil version, but Sarfira doesn’t have that quality where the characters and emotions would stay with you for some time after finishing the film.