FC Gold 2023 Winner: Soori | Viduthalai Part 1

Soori is magnetic as Kumaresan, a low-ranking police driver who places honour, kindness, and gentleness above everything else. Assigned to the contentious area in the forested mountains, he asks, “Aren’t we here to serve and help the people?” He refuses to suppress his ideals even while keeping his head down. It is easy for such a wide-eyed performance to feel cloying, for its goodness to feel saccharine, and its innocence to feel childishly naive. Yet, Soori is able to embody this sketch of a character with so much longing, so much pain that he is able to alchemize into passion, so much passion that he is able to alchemize into heroism. It is love, and fighting for it that makes him jump terraces in the climactic battle. To be able to convincingly chart this steep arc — from rabbit to roar — is an acting feat.