High Priestess, a Zee5 original, is an 8-episode web series that ventures into the territory of the unknown or the little-understood, the world of tarot reading and psychic abilities. Pushpa Ignatius, whose short film Pournami was screened at Cannes, is the director. Her debut series starts out with the right intentions, with a high profile tarot reader and psychic Swati Reddy (Amala Akkineni) as the lead character, one who isn’t afraid of spirits and rather empathises with them (High Priestess itself is a term borrowed from tarot cards). Relying on her gift of being able to converse with the dead, she solves the problems of her clients.
There is an underlying parallel narrative, a romantic undertone accomplished through Vikram (Kishore Kumar), once Swati’s boyfriend, now estranged, making an unexpected visit to spend a nostalgia-soaked day with her, while she narrates the tales of a few of her clients, to a guy who wouldn’t at one time believe in anything paranormal. The web series is easy to watch because most of the episodes have a run-time of 25 to 35 minutes.
High Priestess as a series is stuck somewhere between two worlds, pun intended. It is not an outright paranormal thriller. Yes, there is the occasional jump scare in every episode, relying on the audience’s imagination and appetite for such cheap thrills. However, a seasoned fan of paranormal and horror thrillers would find most of the episodes barely thrilling, sometimes almost lame. So, this one is definitely not for someone expecting something that is edge-of-the-seat. No, it simply isn’t that kind of a series.
At the same time, High Priestess isn’t an out-and-out thought-provoking drama. Yes, each of the stories in the assortment try to touch upon a moral or two, but such an intention is not taken to its logical conclusion. Yes, there is the story of Devaki, a victim of a witch-hunt conspiracy. There is a story based on a transgender person killed in a road accident. There is the middle-aged woman who pays the ultimate price for everlasting beauty. There is the story of a lustful gynaecologist whose sexual abuse leads to a patient’s death. There is the story of a busy man, who is unhappy and trades love for money. But overall, the stories seem like a loosely collected bunch, not centrally related by a strong theme.
Most, but not all, spirits represented in the series are those of victims. The spirits are not necessarily evil, they seem to demonstrate. But the second and third episodes based on Ruby are an exception, indicating the lack of coherence. The series pans out in the form of stories narrated by Swati to Vikram, the love of her life, who marries another woman but comes back to meet her after a long time. There is a not-so-surprising backstory to Vikram’s visit too.
High Priestess has crisp, short episodes, and the DoP, Soundararajan, makes the frames look very aesthetically pleasing. Gopal Rao’s music too is not overbearing, thankfully, and is easy on the ear.
Amala is elegant, but most of her lines seem monotonous, with minimal investment or thought process in what she says. Someone with her screen presence deserved a lot more in terms of dialogue writing and character arc. Yes, there is the odd explanation that she gives about how spirits are sometimes just people who passed away before their issues could be resolved. Yet, the series suffers from too much silence – neither dialogue nor suspense-filled paranormal activity fills the minutes. For several minutes in each episode, not much happens.
While themes like regressive therapy, hypnosis and tarot card predictions are touched upon, none of them play an active role in the plot. Most of the time, Swati just happens to know the truth, thanks to her psychic powers. That seems to be a let-down for those expecting a well-written thriller.
High Priestess dillydallies between a paranormal thriller and a drama, but ends up being neither. The short length of the episodes makes it highly watchable, but most of the themes, including the climax of the series and the main storyline, give the impression that the writers were just scratching the surface and testing the waters. For those born and bred on thrillers like The Conjuring, this series will offer nothing. It is technically more suited to first-time viewers of paranormal thrillers, who wish to enjoy something not-so-heavy or stressful.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.