Suzhal — The vortex of binge-watching
About half a decade back, director Vetrimaaran had a wish that producers should come forward to fund the making of web series in South India too (it was already happening in Bollywood — Sacred Games, Mirzapur, etc.). It would give a lot of time and space for the filmmakers to tell what can’t be told within limited screen time in the movies. He wanted to make crime thrillers like Narcos.
During the pandemic, quite a few Tamil series started coming. Yet, the number of properly funded (excluding self funded tukkada YouTube series) web series were relatively less compared to what Bollywood came up with.
I’m glad it’s starting to take off here as well. Suzhal, written by the director duo Pushkar & Gayathri is mind-blowing. The multifold plot unravels itself at the end of every episode when we start to think ‘Ah! The mystery is solved’. Around the last 2 episodes it becomes evident who is the accused, yet a gripping and binge-worthy watch.
Kathir, Aiswarya Rajesh, Shriya and Santhana Bharathi — OMG! Someone had tweeted last week saying “I want Santhana Bharathi as my bff” — I did not understand why until I finished watching this. Agent Uppili followed by Advisor Kothandaraman — he got to play good ones at such a point in his long career. The kids who played Nila and Athisayam were top notch too. In a way, I’m advocating to watch this purely because the response to this series would be the starting point for many more good scripts to come.
The way the character ‘Sakkarai’ slowly starts to realise what he knows and understands about the people he sees day-in and day-out is just myopic, is a truly needed learning for the current day world.
The plot was more relatable to me because I grew up in the neighbourhood of Angalamman Temple in Nungambakkam. That is where an annual festival called ‘Mayaana KoLLai — மயானக் கொள்ளை (colloquially called as Masanaa Kollai — மசனாக் கொள்ளை, translated as ‘the loot from graveyard’) happens every year. People wouldn’t believe such customs exist in a city till day, but it does.
Nungambakkam Loyola college was the alma mater of Pushkar and Gayathri. So there is a fair chance they came up with this plot after witnessing it there. Having said that, it’s a sure recommendation to my schoolmates who are reading this :)
