Mandaadi’s win belongs to fishing communities: Soori

Mandaadi has been in theatres barely a day, and Soori has already chosen where he wants any victory attached to it to land: with the fishing communities whose lives, knowledge and traditional races give the film its identity.

Speaking after watching the film with an audience on its opening day, Soori said the months his team spent at sea had found their reward in the response inside the theatre. “I consider it a privilege to have played a fisherman,” he said. “This is a victory for the collective effort of the Mandaadi team. The film’s victory belongs to fishermen.”

The early conversation around Mathimaran Pugazhendhi’s film has centred on exactly what makes it unusual. Cinema Express praised its open-water racing, performances and cultural detail, while first-day audience reactions have repeatedly singled out the boat sequences and the work of Soori and Suhas. Our own Mandaadi review found a rousing coastal sports drama, with races that give the familiar comeback story genuine excitement.

Soori plays Muthukaali, a former champion who returns to Mugavai Pattinam after twenty years away and finds himself training a crew nobody expects to win. Suhas is Saattappuli, the rival whose hold over the village team turns the race into a battle over respect. Mahima Nambiar, Sathyaraj, Mithun Jai Sankar, Ravindra Vijay and Bala Saravanan complete the principal ensemble.

The water is not decorative scenery here. The traditional sailboat race tests how well a crew can read the wind, shift its weight and handle the rigging under pressure, skills tied directly to life at sea. Mathimaran built the sporting drama around that knowledge and the communities that have kept it alive even as motorised boats changed everyday fishing.

Making those races demanded the kind of commitment the finished film puts on screen. Around three quarters of Mandaadi was shot 15 to 20 kilometres out at sea on wind-powered boats. Soori also completed the final stretch after fracturing his leg, arriving at the shoot in a wheelchair before getting back into the boat.

The first wave of encouragement has included Soori’s longtime colleagues. Sivakarthikeyan said the actor’s persistence and dedication had paid off, while Vishnu Vishal congratulated him for sustaining a run of consistent choices. That run began with Viduthalai Part 1 and has steadily redrawn what audiences expect from a performer once identified almost entirely with comedy.

Asked what comes next, Soori kept his answer broad. He said he would continue as a leading man and choose good stories whether they were set in villages or cities. For now, Mandaadi is in cinemas in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada, carrying a local racing tradition onto the biggest screens available.