No matter how many films and web series we have on serial killers, the genre always finds an audience. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you,” said German philosopher Nietzche. This, essentially, sums up our interest in the serial killer genre. We follow the ‘work’ of a depraved mind to a point when we begin to understand their psyche. Their repulsive actions become logical, and as invested as we are in the hunt for the killer, we also expect them to outsmart the cop or detective who is after them.
SonyLIV’s 8-part web series, Brinda, directed by Surya Manoj Vangala, stars Trisha Krishnan in the titular role as a Sub Inspector (SI) at a Hyderabad police station. She has a traumatic past that keeps intruding into the present. Her colleague, Sarathi (Ravindra Vijay), is the only person at the police station who respects Brinda’s calibre. The rest are dismissive of her capabilities – especially her leery superior Solomon (Goparaju Vijay) – because she’s a woman. Curiously, Brinda is the only woman officer that we see all through the series.
With barely any makeup, Trisha looks the part of a serious-minded cop who just wants to do her job. Her seat at the station is next to the toilet. The men tend to leave it open after they walk out, and each time, she gets up to latch it from the outside. She doesn’t complain because she knows how that will look. Quickly, this establishes a few things – Brinda’s status at the station, the callousness of her colleagues, and her determination to persist.
When a body is found, Solomon is inclined to write it off as a suicide case, but Brinda states confidently that it was a murder. Like every ‘supercop’, she is able to do this with a mere glance at the corpse. Considering the length of the series and how Brinda’s past collides with the present, it would have been interesting to see Brinda’s journey as a policewoman and how she hones her detecting abilities. But, the writing doesn’t go there.
The staging of a crime is of great importance in the serial killer genre. It is from the peculiarities observed at the scene that the investigators unravel the psyche of the killer. Here, Surya brings in a rare bird into the picture. Sure, it’s intriguing, but the clue never really goes anywhere. It is supposed to highlight the macabre nature of the crime, and yet, the director doesn’t trust the material enough and goes on adding twist upon twist. The CGI bird doesn’t look very convincing either and could have been done away with altogether. Remember the Death’s Head Hawk-moths from The Silence of the Lambs (1991)? The insects in the film are of symbolic significance and also offer a clue to the cop to find the killer. They aren’t there just to be spooky.
The writing needed to be tighter. Episode 1 reveals the face of the killer to the audience though not all the details behind the crime. That leaves seven more episodes where we have to be invested in what’s happening. We are taken through the personal lives of Brinda and Sarathi and these portions are too much of a cliche to really keep us focused. Brinda’s sister is the ‘modern’ girl who smokes, parties, and flirts with boys, raising the concern of the older sibling. Sarathi and his wife don’t have kids and that’s a grouse in their marriage. These are not exactly character arcs because the characters don’t transform in a palpable way.
The series follows a non-linear narrative and since we pretty much figure out the ‘who did it’ part early, what remains is unravelling the motive and the modus operandi. Surya falls back on repetitive flashbacks for this. The trick in good writing is to explain everything without making it obvious that you’re explaining everything. There are also a few loose ends in the investigation that are dropped as important discoveries but forgotten later – for example, Brinda figures out that someone was calling the killer before he committed the crimes. Sarathi tries the number but doesn’t get through. There’s no further attempt to track this number though the police are staring at a crime of massive proportions.
These inconsistencies could have been forgiven had the series otherwise held up. But it’s wobbly at best. For instance, a cult is at the heart of the crimes but there is no attempt to delve into the dynamics of it. Not everyone who undergoes a traumatic experience becomes capable of mass murder. The Manson Family wasn’t a group of righteous people seeking revenge. It was a commune where the members took psychoactive drugs and were radicalised by a charismatic leader to commit violent crimes. The problem with many homegrown serial killer films and web series has been to confuse ordinary human emotions, such as a desire for revenge and righteousness, with the mind of a psychopath that operates on a different plane.
Still, Brinda is watchable because of the performances of the cast. Apart from Trisha, Ravindra Vijay and Indrajith do well in their respective roles. Anand Sami is particularly impressive and stands out with his performance. That said, for fans of the serial killer genre, Brinda is middling at best. If there is a Season 2, let’s hope the writing gets better.
Sowmya Rajendran writes on gender, culture and cinema. She has written over 25 books, including a nonfiction book on gender for adolescents. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for her novel Mayil Will Not Be Quiet in 2015.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.