Writers Pushkar-Gayatri on Suzhal: 'It is a dark mystery which will resonate universally'

Director duo Pushkar and Gayatri, who directed the massive hit Vikram Vedha, have written, created and produced Suzhal (The Vortex), an upcoming Amazon Prime Video India original series.

Suzhal, a Tamil web series, is an investigative thriller that revolves around the disappearance of a young girl in a small industrial town in Tamil Nadu and is directed by Bramma and Anucharan M. The long-form series drops on Amazon on 17 June in 30 languages globally. Starring Kathir, Aishwarya Rajesh, Sriya Reddy, R Parthiban and others, the series could be the beginning of something new in the Indian OTT space.

Pushkar and Gayatri have dedicated the last two-and-a-half years on this project and are now looking forward to the audience’s reaction to their work. Ask Gayatri if Suzhal was going to change the way web series from India are perceived and she smiles and replies, “We do hope so! Though there have been a few web series that have been mounted at a large scale with a grand story, most of our series are like a poor cousin to cinema and an alternate to television. Most of the consumption happens over the phone. What we hope to do is to bring in the ‘cinematic TV’ experience! We hope people just don’t watch it on their commute home or killing time while waiting… instead make a date with their TV to watch Suzhal.”

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Though the husband-wife duo are directors themselves, for this project they roped in National Award-winning director Bramma (Kuttram Kadithal) and Anucharan M (Kirumi) to helm this eight-part series. The writing and direction for OTT content differ from that of films and Pushkar and Gayatri have recognised this and are clear that these roles should ideally not be combined. Pushkar believes that the talent in the Tamil film industry is immense and that it’s important for people to collaborate rather than take on all the roles themselves. “We admire the work done by Bramma and Anucharan and felt they would be perfect to direct this series,” he added.

The original idea for this series came to them around 2015 when they read an article in a newspaper and they believed that they would get an opportunity to create a series out of this one day. However, creating an eight-part long-form series is not as simple either, says Gayatri given that it involves the work of three or four feature films in a single project. And there would have been numerous challenges to this large project. “The challenge was definitely the writing! We realised that writing a series is a totally different ballgame from writing a film. Long form writing requires a larger skill set, more discipline and lots and lots of time. It was challenging but fun though!” she emphasises.

Though the series is set in a small town in Tamil Nadu and is extremely localised, the Suzhal team believes that the story it tells and the characters involved would resonate with the worldwide audience as the story is universal. For the first time, a Tamil web series is being released in 30 languages worldwide simultaneously and it is a momentous occasion not just for the team of Suzhal but for the Tamil film industry as well. OTT has paved the way for new stories and provided opportunities for new talent as well. So are Pushkar and Gayatri creating a new wave of OTT content? “We are thrilled and curious to know how that would play out. But it’s actually Amazon who is creating a new wave with their firm belief in the content and taking the series to a global audience,” smiles Gayatri.

Latha Srinivasan is a senior journalist based in Chennai. Her passion is entertainment, travel, and dogs.

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