Sarfira is inspired by the life of Captain G R Gopinath, the father of low-cost aviation in India. It is also a faithful remake of the Suriya starrer Soorarai Pottru and very few changes have been made by director Sudha Kongara. The film is 155 minutes long but has a lot of engrossing moments. The hardships faced by the protagonist are moving and one can’t help but root for him and curse the villain! The ending is very touching. Sadly, the film drops in between. The romantic track is sweet but also acts as a roadblock. Akshay Kumar is terrific. When he cries, the whole theatre would follow suit and that’s the power of his performance. Radhikka Madan is confident and comes out with flying colours. Paresh Rawal is too good as the antagonist. Prakash Belawadi (Prakash Babu), R Sarathkumar (Nedumaran; Vir’s commanding officer in IAF), Anil Charanjeett (Mandar), Rahul Vohra (Shashank Deshmukh; DGCA official) Krishnakumar Balasubramanian (Chaitanya Rao), Saurabh Goyal (Sam) and Iravati Harshe Mayadev (Chitra; All India Radio) are lovely in supporting roles. Jay Upadhyay (Rani’s mama) raises laughs. The actor playing Akshay Kumar’s father is very good. All in all, Sarfira is worth watching, whether or not you’ve watched the original flick.
My rating – *** ½ out of 5!