Soori revealed the Padayappa story in a conversation with the film’s director K.S. Ravikumar. He said he was employed in the electrical department on the set, and his job included ensuring that the portable fans used by the stars were working properly. He was 22 years old. 27 years later, Soori does not need anyone to point a fan at him. He has an army of fans following him instead.

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The fans who ate mud

And some of them take it too far. In a clip that went viral during the release of his previous hit Maaman (2025), a group of Soori’s fans in Madurai were seen eating mud as a form of offering at a temple to ensure the film’s commercial success. The video circulated widely on social media, with some celebrating the devotion and others calling it dangerous.

Soori was not among those who celebrated. He publicly admonished the fans, calling their act “extremely foolish.” His response was blunt and direct: “If a film does well, it’s because it’s well-written or well-made, and not because someone ate mud.”

Mandaadi, directed by Mathimaran Pugazhendhi with Vetrimaaran as creative producer, has now crossed Rs 100 crore worldwide in 11 days of release, according to Sacnilk, making it Soori’s first Rs 100 crore film.

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What makes Mandaadi’s box office run remarkable is where the money is coming from. Producer Elred Kumar, who produced the film under RS Infotainment and also backed Soori’s Viduthalai with Vetrimaaran, told THR India that the film’s collections on the sixth day were higher than what it collected on day one, a pattern that indicates strong word-of-mouth driving audiences to theatres rather than hype driving an opening-day spike.

More significantly, Kumar said Mandaadi has swept Tamil Nadu’s C centres, the tier-3 towns and villages that most Tamil films struggle to penetrate. “It’s the first time a movie of mine has swept the C centre,” Kumar added. “I feel it’s time to call him a superstar, even though the industry is reluctant to give him the title so quickly. But if you ask the people, he is already a star to them.”

Kumar also reflected on the transformation that has made Soori’s stardom possible. He recalled the decade when Soori’s mere presence on screen was enough to generate laughter, a period when his identity was built entirely on physical comedy, loud performances and cranky characters rather than wisecracks or punch dialogues.

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“Soori wasn’t your regular comedian, built on counters or wisecracks. He was a physical comedian who relied on loud performances and cranky characters,” Kumar said. “No one would have imagined him to eventually move with a hero’s body language. But today, it’s impossible to find traces of that old comedian in him.”

The transition Kumar describes has been gradual but definitive. It began with Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai Part 1 , where Soori played a schoolteacher caught in the crossfire between Naxalites and police in 1980s Tamil Nadu. The performance announced him as a serious dramatic actor. Kottukkaali, directed by PS Vinothraj, whose previous film Pebbles was India’s official entry to the Oscars, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and cemented his international credibility. Garudan proved he could hold a commercial entertainer. Maaman  showed he could open a film on his own name and deliver a Rs 40 crore hit. And now Mandaadi has taken him past Rs 100 crore.