Suzhal – The Vortex Web Series Review

Writer-directors Pushkar and Gayatri, in their next piece of work after the blockbuster Vikram Vedha, have taken loads of time to arrive at a long-format offering in Suzhal, which has arrived onto Amazon Prime. The eight-episode web series is sewed in a little village and the events that take place there when a girl goes missing.

Suzhal is set in the village of Sambaloor, where a cop duo Sakkarai (Kathir) and Regina (Sriya Reddy) are busy investigating a fire which has escalated at a factory. As things get tricky in the case, the factory union leader Shanmugam’s daughter goes missing and complicates it further. Suzhal then leads us from one twist to another, as we travel through the lengths of the eight episodes to find out the answer behind the girl’s disappearance. The series starts off in a superb fashion by establishing the characters very well, and then moves onto the events one by one.

What Suzhal does really well is in opposing the common thought that will go on in our heads, and keeps throwing in surprises one after the other, even though they may not be big ones. The red herrings that are thrown in during the series do not lead to greater effect in the end as they are predictable attention diverters, but there is something that Suzhal keeps giving to hold the series together.

Kathir gets a thick part to play after a while, and absolutely rules the roost in the lead role. The series might seem like it is giving equal attention to all its characters at the start, but as it progresses past the 4th episode, Kathir gains the majority of the screen space and also owns the show’s big reveals. Aishwarya Rajesh gets a fantastic intro which is in line with our mass heroes, but her role in the series keeps blowing hot and cold. There is also an element of doubt in her character, which is carried out well by the directors Anucharan and Bramma. Sriya Reddy is back with a bang and delivers a superb performance that has no complaints about it. Parthiban does a fine job while the rest of the cast including Roobini, Kumaravel and the others are fine fits.

The technical work is the big highlight of Suzhal as the series feels big and always stands tall when it comes to the visuals or the music. Mukes’ camerawork is extraordinary, especially in the thiruvizha sequences, and Sam CS pins a solid score that elevates each and every sequence in the series.

On the whole, Suzhal may not be the best but it is definitely among the better series to hit the deck from Tamil cinema.  Suzhal – The Vortex Web Series Review by Siddarth Srinivas

Suzhal The Vortex Web Series Review Rating: 3.5/5

Click here to watch Suzhal on Amazon Prime