Brinda examines some alarming aspects of religious fanaticism through the narrative engine of a well-oiled serial killer mystery, observes Arjun Menon.
Brinda, the first Web series to feature Trisha Krishnan in the lead role, is the perfect bingeable crime series, grounded in emotion.
The show revolves around a reclusive woman, Brinda (Trisha Krishnan), who works as a sub-inspector of police in a largely male-dominated workplace.
When we first meet her, we are shown that she has some minor issues back home, with a complicated flashback giving us a glimpse into her slightly stilted personality. We learn that she was an adopted child living with her widowed mother and despised by her younger sister.
The show opens with a haunting episode, involving her long-lost family that comes back to tie neatly with the narrative and also lends credibility to her slightly impenetrable persona.
On the work front, there are murmurs amongst her colleagues about her withdrawn demeanour and quiet ways, not helped by a corrupt, sleazy inspector's taunting jabs, who points out that her position is just a means to cover the mandatory female officer quota in the station.
But between the judgemental glares and suffocating patronising from her co-workers, a young officer Sarathi (Ravindra Vijay) seems to take kindly to Brinda's general sense of aloofness and ends up becoming her only ally in the department.
He tags along with her for a seemingly random murder investigation that involves a recently discovered corpse.
The series is basic in its setup and Writer-Director Surya Manoja Vangala covers the routine beats of the personal drama upfront and efficiently sets up the script's procedural parts in motion.
Brinda devotes herself to the case and breaks new ground in the investigation, much to the jealous CI's chagrin.
Sarathi, who himself is on the lookout for a long-denied promotion, is also unable to break out of the filthy grip of his demanding superior, who treats them both badly for trying to find new leads in the case, instead of following his lead and focusing on peddling in more bribes.
Sarathi is also struggling with a childless marriage and without meaningful growth at work, we can see how these two form a friendship.
They naturally fit together and form a good team, and Brinda starts to slowly open up before Sarathi.
But the show is not that interested in making it a run-of-the-mill murder mystery featuring two oddball cops.
Surya Manoja Vangala is highly skilled at drawing out the troubling power dynamics in the investigation and he sets the tone with great narrative economy.
Brinda delves into issues of the occult and sticks somewhere between an affecting drama and suspenseful television, with personal stakes for all the principal characters involved.
Brinda's tragic past is recounted through flashbacks involving her late adoptive father. It structurally frames itself between Brinda's loving memories of her father and her finding out ways to crack the labyrinth web of the increasingly volatile case.
Anand Sami doesn't share the screen with the other cast much but delivers a deceptively controlled performance as the show's central figure, who maintains the suspense with his peculiar performance.
Trisha is refreshing as the titular Brinda, and the actress gets to cherish the screen time to delve somewhat deeply into the numbing psychology of a loner, tasked with taking down a largely inept character on paper and making her work on screen as a living symbol of her repressed trauma.
The show shifts places in the fourth and fifth episodes to become much more than a predictable cat-and-mouse game between cops and a psychotic killer.
The writing keeps introducing new obstacles for Brinda and we are fed new revelations that keep things moving.
Ravindra Vijay excels as the promising, yet timid officer, who projects a masterfully judged lack of confidence in the character's actions and lends some levity to the proceedings, contrasting well with Trisha's more stoic presence.
Cinematography by Dinesh K Babu efficiently uses visual consistency and maintains the narrative momentum of the show.
There are some good dramatic reveals and character details that feel earned but sometimes the writing seems too superficial to engage with the real issue being discussed.
The soundtrack by Shaktikanth Karthik does get overbearing in parts but the mystic, synth-like score reminiscent of the Goblin's theme for Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), that propped up at crucial scenes felt haunting and disturbing in its effect.
The show, however, overstays its welcome with the sister subplot, where we are meant to follow the younger sister on her redemptive arc from hating her sister from a young age, to finally accepting her for who she is.
The writers even introduces a toxic boyfriend angle and an oddly staged assault scene to make a point in the dynamic between the dysfunctional sisters.
Despite these setbacks, Brinda picks up steam whenever Jaya Prakash turns up in the well-written flashbacks that offer the central thesis of the show through clever vignettes of his interactions with two pivotal characters.
His convincing performance grounds the absurd levels to which the climatic revelations unravel.
Indrajith Sukumaran gets a great role as a reputable college professor, who is dragged into the central investigation. He elevates a template, stock character into a highly lived-in figure.
Brinda is strongest when it follows the procedural part of its subject matter and the eight-part show stops abruptly by episodes seven and eight to deliver Theology 101 lessons on the adverse effects of religious fundamentalism, presents some outlandish ideas, and suggests some illogical strands of exposition and major plot revelations.
The Manmohan Desai-like setup of the estranged siblings and the fascination with superstition is balanced by the makers with a well-etched-out flashback sequence.
The idea of equating uneducation with collective responsibility for religious barbarism seems like a rather simple solution.
Brinda positions the father figure as the guiding light of all things good in the world and tries to connect the idea of good vs evil with middling effects.
The show is not a deep, troubling anatomy of problems facing superstitious beliefs and the concept of religious fundamentalism but holds its own for its fascinating pool of ideas.
Brinda streams on SonyLIV.
