Heroes/Chandra Suresh

Chandra Suresh
Heroes
Actor	Erick Avari
First Appearance	1x08 - Seven Minutes to Midnight
Last Appearance	1x10 - Six Months Ago
Series Billing	Guest Star
Episode Count	3
Notable Episodes	1x10 - Six Months Ago

Chandra Suresh is the father of Mohinder Suresh. He was a leading researcher of evolutionary theory in humans before he was murdered in New York. Despite the series largely taking place after his death, Suresh's impact is felt due to the regular appearance of his book Activating Evolution. He is played by Erick Avari.

Basic Information

Chandra had two children, a daughter Shanti, and a son Mohinder, but Shanti died, apparently from a genetic anomaly when she was five years old. Shanti's death was the catalyst for Chandra's drive to do genetic research. Chandra became convinced that there was potential for humans to develop extrordinary abilities, and became obsessed with finding them, much to the dismay of his colleagues at Chennai University. Using data compiled from various sources, he put together a list of people carrying a special genetic marker and set out searching for them.

Character History

Chandra decided to shut Mohinder out of his research in order to shield him from the controversy that dogged his own career. Mohinder grew to resent him for that, and was angry when Chandra announced his plan to go to New York in search of his special people. Chandra’s wife supported his decision, knowing that the obsession wouldn’t go away, whether he stayed or not.

The first person Chandra contacted in New York was Gabriel Gray, a watchmaker in Brooklyn. He was initially impressed with Gray’s uncanny ability to detect a small flaw in his watch with only a brief glance, but the initial tests didn’t detect any unusual brain activity. Chandra got discouraged and thought Gray wasn’t special after all. Grey was unhappy when Chandra told him this and they argued.

A day or two later, Gray showed up at Chandra’s apartment and demonstrated telekinesis. Chandra apologized for giving up on Gray so quickly. Grey told Chandra that he wanted to help Chandra find more special people.

An unknown amount of time later, Chandra realized that Gray, under the alias “Sylar”, was killing people with abilities and taking their abilities for himself. Chandra severed all ties with Sylar, but Sylar tried to stay in contact and called Chandra at least once. Chandra recorded the call.

Sylar eventually killed Chandra in his taxicab, breaking his neck. Sylar covered the death up by making it appear that he died in a traffic accident.

Signifigcant Episodes

• 1x8 - Seven Minutes to Midnight: Mohinder sees a dream about his Chandra's decision to leave India.
• 1x9 - Homecoming: Mohinder has another dream giving insight into why CHandra shut him out of his research.
• 1x10 - Six Months Ago: Chandra meets Gabriel Gray, changing both their lives forever.

Trivia

• Casting: Prior to his appearance on the series as a character, Chandra Suresh only appeared as a photograph on the back of the book jacket for Activation Evolution. At one point, in the recap before Collision, a different picture of a turbaned man appeared on the book. Popular speculation considers the turbaned actor to be a stand-in whose picture was inadvertently used before the role was cast.
• Can you hear me now?: Erick Avari's voice was used in a tape of Chandra and Sylar talking in "Don't Look Back."