Review of “Suzhal 2 – The Vortex” – Web series on Amazon Prime

A series like Suzhal is an extremely tough act to follow, as the series had a huge budget, featured prominent actors and – most importantly – was brilliantly crafted and tastefully presented. Created by Pushkar and Gayathri, the directors of the critically acclaimed Madhavan-Vijay Sethupathy starrer, Vikram Vedha, Suzhal set new standards for Tamil and Indian web series.

The sequel, which began streaming on Amazon Prime on Friday, 28 February, manages to match the level of excellence of the first series and retains the tense suspense and mystery through another carefully crafted story with lots of twists, surprises and a healthy dose of mystery.

It is, however, much more than the gripping story that makes Suzhal 2 such a delight to watch. The characters, even the minor characters, are brilliantly developed to minute detail, augmenting the emotional impact of each scene. I n order to achieve this level of reach, Pushkar and Hayathri have taken care in their casting, retaining Kadhir and Aishwarya Rajesh from the first series.

The rest of the cast includes Saravanan (yesteryear lead actor who made his debut in Vaidhehi Vanthachu), Ashwini Nambiar (who made her debut in Bharathiraja’s Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathui), Manjima Mohan (Achcham Yenbathu Madamaiyada and  FIR), Chandran (Prabhu Solomon’s Kayal), Chandini Tamilarasan (Naan Rajavage Pogiren), Gouri G Kishan (debut as the young Trisha in 96), Monisha Blessy (Sivakarthikeyan’s Maaveeran) OAK Sundar (son of OAK Devar who made his debut in Kamalhaasan’s Virumandi) , Pondy Ravi (Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Minnale and Kaakka Kaakka) and Thirumurugan (Kalavani and Eetti).

The story begins shortly after where Season 1 ended. Nandhini (Aishwarya Rajesh) is on trial for murder and is being represented by senior Advocate Chellappa (Lal). “Sakkarai” (Kathir) has been suspended for his negligence with his firearm and is trying hard to penetrate the protective armour that Nandhini has around her. Nandhini’s case gets an unexpected challenge when tragedy strikes and Kathir finds himself embroiled in a vortex of events where there are more questions than answers.

Series 2 has eight episodes and I felt that Episode 1 could have had a better pace, but on reflection at the end of the series, saw why Episode 1 had the details featured as it contained essential information on the characters. I also felt that the length of the climax fight sequence in Episode 8 did not do justice to the pace of the rest of the series. Apart from that, Suzhal is meticulously and intelligently crafted with the kind of scripting that traverses the film’s many themes without resorting to cliches or oversimplification of important issues.

The juxtaposition between the Temple festival and the main narrative is tastefully handled and its high impact is because of the way both aspects are handled to intricate detail.

In terms of acting, none of the characters can be faulted. The flawless performances bring the already vibrant script to three-dimensional life. Has grown exponentially in his ability to subtly convey emotion while Aishwarya Rajesh now has the ability to exude a powerful screen presence. Saravanan is in one of his most impressive characters of his career and he handles this superbly. Lal has always been underrated actor, but his portrayal of Advocate Chellappa is sure to change that. Ashwini Nambiar as Malathy handles her complex role brilliantly while Gouri G Kishan shows tremendous potential as an actress.

The background score by Sam CS was excellent but I felt that the series would have been a lot better with better songs, although all songs featured in the background.

Bramma, who made his explosive directorial debut with Kuttram Kadithal, winner of the National Award for Best Feature Film (2015), has directed five of the eight episodes and has done an excellent job with all five. Sarjun KM, the director of Nayanthara’s Aira, has directed Episodes 3, 4 and 5 and also shown meticulous attention to detail.

Suzhal 2 – The Vortex is an outstanding web series that has all the hallmarks of a big budget film, with the same attention to story, scripting, acting and production values.

This series, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, scores 9 points out of 10.