Indian rural folklore is filled with stories that scare bones of superstitions, witchcraft and occult practices. Although terminologies or details can vary with PIN codes, what remains constant is the paralyzing fear of the unknown, which often pushes to extreme and incredible crimes defying humanity.
Sonyliv’s latest web series, Manvat Murders, concerns a similar story of occult murders, based on horrible murders that rocked the village of Manvat du Maharashtra in the 1970s. In two years, brutally massacred bodies of 11 girls and women were found in the village, with blood taken from their private parts, alluding to a ritual connection.
The thriller in eight parts in the marathi language begins with the murder of a woman working in a field by two masked men, who take an ax at her head. It is only one of the many victims. The whole region is seized with terror and women are afraid to get out of their houses alone.
We are then presented to Ramakant Kulkarni (Ashutosh Gowariker), a police officer decorated with an impressive history of resolution of all his cases. Once the bodies accumulate, Kulkarni is sent from Mumbai to Manvat to find the culprit behind the hideous killings.
Sonali Kulkarni made a stellar performance in the series
Kulkarni is the polar opposite of his corrupt colleagues. He has a great interest in criminal psychology, has his own tactics to extract information from people and even takes up the smallest details of the case. While the team around him is impatient, distraught and thug, the balanced officer has all his movements calculated in advance.
As the investigation takes place, one of the main suspects turns out to be a local couple: Uttamrao Barahate (Makrand Anaspure) and her husband Rukmini (Sonali Kulkarni), who heads a secret company of illegal Hooch and which has the whole community criticized their debt. Even when they are banished from the region by law, their business – now managed by Rukmani’s sister, Samindri – continues without hitch. Meanwhile, the couple works on a petition to recover their house.
During the following seven episodes, when the investigation continues, we are served with frequent flashbacks of previous murders. And as more and more murders occur, the case turns into a tangle of old tracks and new suspects. The themes of poverty, illiteracy and drug addiction are also discussed while keeping the primordial on occultism.
The criminal thriller depicts the subject with the care and the sensitivity it deserves. Its unremitted representation of murders and pedophilia is the hairstyle and disturbing, but rarely for free. The show manages to explore the fragility and vulnerability of the human mind, easily manipulated and pushed towards dark corners. It is frightening to see how trivial and essential human life could be for those who blindly follow the herd.
Ashutosh Gowariker embodies the Ramakant Kulkarni policeman who inspects the case of occult murders in Manvat
Sonali Kulkarni, in particular, has done exceptional work by depicting this shameless faith in an immoral cause. Here she plays an infertile woman, ready to go to any measure to wear a child. Her character is powerful and dark, and she will make you uncomfortable every time she is on the screen. In a particularly painful scene in the third episode, she groaned in front of a lamp under the sacred fig tree to be sterile. Kulkarni has a respectable work work behind her, and her representation of Rukmini is among them as one of his best so far.
Sai Tamhankar, who embodies Rukmini’s sister. She brings an intimidating aura to each scene in which she is. It was the first time that I had done the chance to see her work, and I am now looking forward to seeing more of her in the future.
Manvat Murders is also shot down and published in a way that worsens the horror of events that take place in front of you. The scenes of everyday life are represented in an impressive way, also bringing a rhythm living in the village and its inhabitants. Visually, the show can often evoke silent serenity, despite the macabre events that take place in the background. Some of the executives (Satyajeet Shobha Shriram manages cinematography in the show), like those with the villa of Uttamrao in the home, are so beautifully filmed that they give the impression of a vibrant painting. The director Ashish Avinash Bende wisely abandoned the romanticization of the overexploits of the landscape in favor of a more authentic representation of the Rural Maharashtra, without compromising its cultural appeal.
The series is available to broadcast in marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali
In the survey rooms, the colors of the character’s sets are in perfect synchronization with the walls, and the color tones are aligned with the atmosphere of the scene. It is these small technical details that ironically add poetic value to the scenes.
But although he excels by recreating a frame, Manvat Murders’ History suffers from a momentum at the boiling, despite performance full of power. I understand the intention of the series to draw a contrast between the intense occult and the simple justification, but the approach ends up becoming an obstacle for the story. The episodic mystery did not really hang me, and I rarely found myself badly in anticipation of what will happen. Even if the show is based on a real incident and is not exactly a revolutionary concept (it happens weeks after the film Netflix 36, based on drinkers in serial Noida 2006), it could have avoided being predictable. You don’t really need to look for the real case to assess where the show takes place. Since the horrible case is not part of the national conscience, not everyone can be aware of the events that have happened. But Manvat Murders lacks the opportunity to definitely tell the story for those who could be new in the nightmare.
Despite his shortcomings, Manvat Murders remains a capable thriller and an ideal starting point so that real crime nuts to dig in the horrible events that took place decades ago. It is a beautiful adaptation which remains faithful to its source material and gives the facts directly, without dramatizing them or pacifying them in the name of creative freedom.
Although he does not keep you exactly on your toes in anticipation, he compensates with his frightening representation of sacrificial murders that shook the life and times of a small village in Maharashtra. And its exceptional performance is sufficient to transport you until the end. Manvat’s murders raise important questions about the faith and the serious consequences of uncontrolled superstition. But these questions rarely lead to deeper introspection.
Note: 6.5 / 10
