As announced by him earlier, actor Suriya has donated a part of the revenue generated from his upcoming film Soorarai Pottru, towards COVID-19 relief. On Friday, the actor donated a sum of Rs 1.5 crore from the total promised amount of Rs 5 crore to various films bodies. Suriya had announced that he has set aside Rs 5 crore from the revenue generated by selling Soorarai Pottru to Amazon Prime OTT platform for direct release. He had promised to donate the amount to COVID-19 frontline warriors, general public and for the benefit of those in the industry.
Suriya handed over a cheque for Rs 80 lakh to Film Employee Federation of South India (FEFSI) President RK Selvamani and Rs 20 lakh to RV Udhaykumar, Secratary, Tamil Nadu Film Directors Association (TANTIS) attached to FEFSI.
Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu received a cheque for Rs 30 lakh, to be handed over to the Special Officer currently in charge of Tamil Nadu Film Producer’s Council (TFPC) and actor Nasser has received a cheque for Rs 20 lakh to be handed over to the Special Officer in charge of Nadigar Sangam. Both film bodies do not have an elected body and are under the control of Special Officers appointed by the state government.
The handing over of funds was held at Bharathiraja Film Institute, Teynampet in the presence of the director who is Tamil Film Active Producer Association’s (TFAPA) current President, members Suresh Kamatchi and Lalith Kumar, Suriya’s father and actor Sivakumar and 2D Entertainment’s co-producer Rajsekar Karpoora Sundarapandian.
According to reports, Soorarai Pottru has reportedly fetched Suriya’s 2D Entertainment about Rs 35-45 crore. The film, which is Suriya's first film with director Sudha Kongara will directly release on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on October 30.