Suzhal - The Vortex review: The visuals remain etched in your mind long after you’ve seen the series

A scene from 'Suzhal - The Vortex'. Pushkar and Gayatri have excelled in this series, with their in-depth writing and attention to details throughout the eight parts. (Image: Screen grab)

Writer and director husband-wife duo Pushkar and Gayatri are well-known in Indian cinema for their hit film Vikram Vedha, and they are back with a bang with Suzhal: The Vortex, an Amazon Prime Video eight-part original Tamil web series. Interestingly, they have roped in Anucharan and Bramma as directors while they focused on the writing and production of Suzhal, a crime thriller that is set in the small fictional industrial town of Sambaloor.

Sambaloor is like every other small town, where everyone knows everyone else and most people’s livelihood revolves around one industry, in this case a large cement factory owned by Mukesh Vadde (Yusuf Hussain) and his son Trilok Vadde (Harish Uthaman). The nine-day festival of Mayana Kollai (looting of the graveyard festival), in honour of the folk goddess Anagalamman, begins in Sambaloor, and this is when the eerie story begins.

The town’s cement factory burns down and a young girl disappears the same night. The police investigation coincides with the nine days of the festival and slowly the close-knit fabric of the town and its people starts to unravel as secrets come tumbling out and nothing seems like what it is.

Shanmugam (R. Parthiban), the factory union leader, is dealing with accusations of burning down the factory when he finds out that his younger daughter Nila (Gopika Ramesh) is missing. Young SI Chakravarthy aka Sakkarai (Kathir) and senior Inspector Regina (Sriya Reddy) begin to investigate both cases and slowly uncover leads that take them in various directions.

Just then, Nila’s elder sister Nandini (Aishwarya Rajesh), who works in Coimbatore, rushes home as soon as she hears of her sister’s disappearance, as does their mother who now lives in an ashram. Could Trilok Vadde have set fire to the factory as he is quick to accuse Shanmugam? Was Nila kidnapped by some local gang? Did the festival of Mayana Kollai bring in unwanted visitors to the town? Does Nandini know more than she is letting on? Why was Nandini and Nila’s mother living in an ashram?

Pushkar and Gayatri have excelled in this series with their in-depth writing and attention to details throughout the eight parts. Every character is layered and we see different aspects of each person come forth as we progress through Suzhal. There are plenty of red herrings and it keeps us guessing as to who is to blame for the missing girl and the factory arson.

Every character has been fully fleshed out and we connect to the leads as everyday people - Sakkarai and Regina are small-town cops who have their own shortcomings as do Nandini and Shanmugam. In fact, every character that appears in the series - even if in just a few scenes - has an important role to play in taking the mystery forward.

But some scenes don’t strike a chord emotionally - like the teenage romance sequence which could have been trimmed - though it may be integral to the story. And some logical loopholes do exist but given the way this series has turned out, they can be overlooked.

Like many moments we have seen in Tamil cinema, there are some scenes which are also run-of-the-mill. Take, for instance, Shanmugam scolding his daughter for poor marks; the teenage love where Nila and her boyfriend share ice-cream; or the cop presuming all transgenders are prostitutes. Having said that, the series holds a mirror to society and shows us the prejudices that exist and how people form opinions of others without really knowing them or wanting to know them.

With regard to the performances, the lead actors R. Parthiban, Aishwarya Rajesh, Sriya Reddy and Kathir have essayed their roles beautifully in Suzhal. In fact, it is their performances that keep you hooked onto this thriller. The cinematography by Mukes must be spoken about - the vivid colourful visuals of the festival and the scenic beauty of the hills around the town remain etched in your mind long after you’ve watched the series. Bramma and Anucharan are award-winning directors and they have proved their mettle once again with Suzhal.

Numerous other web series and films - Indian and international - might come to your mind when you think of a crime thriller set in a small town and begin to watch this one. However, Pushkar and Gayatri’s Suzhal: The Vortex set in a small Tamil Nadu village sucks you right in with its relatable characters and local settings. One of the best web series that has emerged on Indian OTT.