Amazon Prime Video recently announced its first Tamil original web series, Suzhal — The Vortex. Directed by Bramma (of Kuttram Kadithal fame) and Anucharan (of Kirumi fame), the series features Kathir (of Pariyerum Perumal fame) and Aishwarya Rajesh in lead roles. The eight-episode crime thriller revolves around the investigation of a missing girl in a small town in South India. It has been written and created by Pushkar and Gayatri, and will be streaming from June 17. During the recent IIFA Awards, the directors spoke to The Free Journal about the series and more.
Talking about the investigation drama, which will get global visibility, the directors said, “We were only going to do this in Tamil. But, later we extended it across the country. Now, it is global and this is the first time that we have done it in almost 30 languages. The content is global. The characters are popular in every town.”
The drama has a mythological undertone. “It was Pushkar's idea to use a deity as the background. It was developed at the script level later on. This is a contemporary version of mythology in a way. I think it was conceptualised in the initial stage itself. Not many know about the festival because it not as popular as Diwali and Onam. It is called Mayana Kollai,” the directors added.
For the unversed, Mayana Kollai is celebrated to worship goddess Angalamman. The festival, too, plays a pivotal role in the narrative. However, the directors added that the show is not religious. “It is not a religious show. It is a socio-cultural one. The rituals, the habits and practices, everything is cultural. It later took on a religious turn when these elements were used in religious practices,” the directors explained.
The show has been shot in Tamil and later dubbed in other languages because of the universality of the content. “We had planned to shoot it in Tamil only as it was only going to be released in Tamil. But later on, it was planned we decided to dub it in Telugu, Malayalam, and other Indian and 30+ global languages. The content has a universal connection and isn't just restricted to South India,” Bramma said.
A few years ago, several regional language industries looked up to Bollywood for gaining recognition. But, now, things have changed. The content that the South film industry churns is enough to bring talented artistes and technicians under the spotlight and en route to global recognition. Sharing his take on the same, Bramma said, “It is not South Indians or North Indians. We feel it's our turn to come up with larger and better stories.”
Why did you all take so much time to make your presence felt? “It’s a hard struggle, it’s as simple as that. However, we are happy about it. I think it is good to experience the struggle. It should be the right time to come up. Thanks to Amazon, every regional industry is being included,” the directors added.
