Suzhal The Vortex Web Series Review

Filmmakers Pushkar and Gayathri, far-famed for their magnum opus creation ‘Vikram Vedha’ have written and produced this series titled ‘Suzhal – The Vortex’ featuring Kathir, Parthiban, Shreya Reddy, and Aishwarya Rajesh in the lead roles. Both Anucharan and Bramma have directed four episodes each. Sam CS has composed music and Mukes has cranked the camera for this 8-episode series streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Set against the backdrops of Sambaloor, a tiny town located amidst the dewy hills, the people are preparing for the 9-day Mayaana Kolai festival. The entire town is emblazoned with colorful decorations, transgender galore up for the festival; street play artistes are at their peak of excitement to exhibit their prowess in performances. Then our protagonist Chakravarthy (Kathir), a cop is getting engaged to his belle (Niveditha Sathish). We find his higher official Regina Thomas (Shreya Reddy), his higher official, her husband (Prem Kumar), and son Athisayam (RF) too involved in celebrations. Then, there is Shanmugham (Parthiban), the union leader, who is against the decisions of the new heir (Harish Uthaman). All of sudden, there are two mishaps – The factory meets with a fire accident and Shanmugham’s 15-yr old daughter Nila (Gopika Ramesh) goes missing. What unfolds next is the investigation embarked on by Chakravarthy that will take him through upheavals and revelations, he never expected.

Very few Tami web series are being made with the perfect discipline, and we had come across Rajesh M Selva’s ‘Irai’ starring Sarath Kumar in the lead role earlier. And now, Pushkar-Gayathri delivers a classic example of how a web series should be. The series doesn’t waste any time getting into the story from the first scene.

In the first episode, we are drawn into the little down of Sambaloor, which is preparing for the festival of Mayaana Kolai. The 9-day festival has been recreated with so much natural and grandeur. It’s not an easy thing to come up with such efforts for a series, and the art department deserves special mention for this brilliant work. The next one, we instantly tend to notice is the cinematography. The visuals are colossal, and you can’t point out a single shot and label it as mediocre. The performances of the actors make the show more appealing to the audience. But guess what stands out to be a top attraction? It’s the writing. With each episode having an approximate running length of 40 mins, it’s really a complex task to deliver a promising package without stepping out of the premise. Unlike other series, this one doesn’t have too many sub-plots that might make up to extend the minutes. There are just two plots and conflicts – The first one being the mystery behind the fire accident in the factory and the other one, the missing girl Nila. The story travels only on these lanes without stepping out anywhere.

The perfect casting, and the way, the actors have delivered their performances make ‘Suzhal’ find an absolute emblazonment. In particular, it’s Shreya Reddy all the way, who undoubtedly clasps the No. 1 Ranking among all the actors. Parthiban doesn’t have anything to perform something exceptional, but his screen presence adds good value to the series. Kathir keeps proving with every single work that he is a content-driven actor, and this series is no exception. Aishwarya Rajesh is good with her presence and acting. Santhana Bharathi and Harish Uthaman are a special surprise. All the other actors have contributed their best, and that’s because of the intense writing and sketching of their characters.

The musical score by Sam CS is top-notch. The editing works too need special mention as the transitions are neat and smooth.

On the whole, Suzhal definitely deserves a watch as the writing is so brilliant. The way, it is presented with perfect narration, top-notch technical works, and decent performances make it a watchable one.