There have been an umpteen number of films dealing with the supernatural, but the latest Amazon Prime Video offering, Inspector Rishi in Tamil, mixes this genre with science and fable and folklore. It is quite an interesting combo, but with 10 longish episodes staring at us, the series, created and directed by Nandhini JS, may seem a tad tedious.
Led by Inspector Rishi (played by a rather wooden Naveen Chandra), the work thrusts us into a deep forest near Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore where bizarre murders take place with sickening regularity. What is even more frightening is that the corpses are placed against tree trunks and covered with net-like cocoons. The sight of these is horrifying.
Tasked with getting to the bottom of these killings, Rishi forms a team with local cops Ayyanar (Kanna Ravi) and Chitra (Malini Jeevarathnam) as well as forest ranger Sathya (Srikrishna Dayal) and forest guard Kathryn (Sunainaa). With the locals terming these tragedies as the work of an evil forest spirit, Vanaratachi, Rishi is up against insurmountable barriers. What is worse, some of his teammates also veer towards believing this. But Rishi, who is rational, logical and with a scientific bent of mind, knows that humans are at work here hiding themselves behind the stupid ideas of spirits and ghosts.
Nandhini’s work is a gripping interplay of perfect policing and suffocating superstition – with Vanaratachi appearing ever so often in its most malevolent form — even scaring Kathryn, turning her into a nervous wreck.
Rishi’s unpleasant past and a physical handicap (he had lost an eye in an encounter) notwithstanding, he pushes on fully convinced that there is no such thing as Vanaratachi.
The series plays out like a slow-burner getting us impatient at times, but the screenplay (although I could not see why it should not have been shorter) does effectively create an eerie atmosphere. And the jungle setting bathed in mist and mystery sends shivers down our spines. I will not go ga-ga over the performances, but mounted with imagination and narrated with thoughtfulness, Rishi and his team can offer an entertaining evening.
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