There is a certain serenity to nights. The city is asleep, but there are a select few who prefer the tranquility of the seeming emptiness amidst the dark shadows. But in director Gowthaman Ganapathy’s Surrender, the night depicts only one thing: the world of crime. “The darkness of the night felt just about right to showcase the criminal underworld," says techie-turned-filmmaker Gowthaman, who returned from Singapore to pursue his passion for cinema. “After working in IT for a while, I wanted to work in a field I actually liked, hence I quit. I worked with director Arivazhagan as an assistant director on Borrder, Sabdham, and Tamil Rockerz. I even worked on advertisements with Srinivasa Rao, the director of Sabhaapathy. I had a drive to create good cinema, and Surrender is a result of my drive to write a good story.”
Interestingly, before going with the title of Surrender, the debutant filmmaker wanted to delve into Tamil literature to find a suitable name for his thriller. “I wanted to use the term 'Aram Kootragum' (good will hunt evil) from Silappathigaaram as the title. However, I felt that using a pure Tamil phrase could complicate the idea of the story and would have shifted the focus from the film. That's why we went with Surrender,” explains Gowthaman, who lists out Maanagaram, Polladhavan, Anjaathey, Mounaguru, and Pandiya Naadu as some of the inspirations for his debut film, headlined by Bigg Boss-fame Tharshan, who was last seen in the Tamil film, Naadu.
Just like these films, Surrender too has a rather interesting ensemble, and Gowthaman reveals what connects them all. “An election binds them all. The story starts five years before the elections, and when the election approaches, you see all the knots unravelling, and the consequences that come to light," says Gowthaman, adding, “The premise allows a sense of urgency to creep into the proceedings, which, in turn, helped raise the stakes for the characters.”
One of the standout characters in this ensemble is undoubtedly veteran actor-filmmaker Lal, who plays a police officer in this high-stakes world of crime. He is shown to be someone who has avoided conflict throughout his life as a police officer and has remained someone completely comfortable on the sidelines. Explaining the rationale behind writing such a character in a world that is bloody and violent, Gowthaman explains, “He is very stubborn, and that is one of the reasons he survived. He believes in doing the right thing, but he also understands the reality of surviving in this world.” He adds, “Lal’s character is someone who is six months away from a well-deserved and cushy retirement, but his world comes crashing down when he gets trapped in a conspiracy. Tharshan's character tries to help him out of this predicament."
The film also features Sujith Shanker and Munishkanth in pivotal roles. While Sujith plays a gangster, Munishkanth plays a naive outsider who is caught in the crosshairs of a fight between people in power. “Sujith's character believes that the only way to stop the law from catching up to him is to gain political mileage,” says Gowtham, who feels that Sujith and Lal play characters who are two sides of the same coin. “Like Lal’s character, he is also trapped and forced to work for some powerful people, which throws a wrench into his plans,” says Gowthaman, adding, “Munishkanth’s story provides some breathing space between the intense storylines that form the base of the story.”
Among the many men who inhabit the world of Surrender, Gowthaman has also sketched the character of a woman police officer, played by Ramya Ramkrishnan. “I wanted to create a character who has a cool head. But I didn't want her to be that stereotypical female police officer, who has a bass voice and is always stoic. There is some humanity even behind the people with hardened occupations. She may be cool-headed, but she retains a certain toughness behind the calmness,” says Gowthaman.
Considering the overload of guns, drugs, and crime in recent times, Gowthaman understands that the audience might be feeling a sense of oversaturation with this genre. However, he signs off by assuring that the subject has been handled with responsibility. “Instead of focusing on the immoral factors, the film is made in a manner that focuses on the humans involved, and how people with integrity respond to situations that test their sense of morality."