In some ways, it is almost like fate that filmmaker Surya Vangala decided to make his directorial debut with Brinda, headlined by Trisha. A story about a woman finding answers to questions from her past with the help of the khaki is something that connects Brinda to Sekhar Kammula-Nayanthara’s Anamika, a remake of Sujoy Ghosh-Vidya Balan’s Kahaani. It was Surya’s first film as an assistant director to Sekhar, and his first film fronted by a female superstar. “I was quite lucky to have a superstar like Trisha in Brinda. Although skeptical about being part of the series, she read through the script and its proposed treatment on a flight, and as soon as it landed, she was onboard Brinda,” says Surya, who displays a childlike enthusiasm in knowing if the series is working with the audience. It’s been almost a week, and it is safe to say that Surya has delivered a winner with Brinda, currently streaming on SonyLIV, and it has breathed a sense of fresh air into the digital space in the South.
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Surya, an engineering graduate-turned-filmmaker, reveals that the first seed of the idea of Brinda was sowed during a time of deep introspection. A time when he wasn’t sure of his place in the world. A philosophical Surya says, “I was thinking as to how everyone is easily labelled and boxed into one category or another. Why is there no nuance in understanding that people are inherently different, and extremely complex? We are evolving, right? Then why the rush to label people? Why is everything seen in binaries?” It is this introspection and search for a common ground that lead Surya to stories about various ritualistic practices and superstitious beliefs that endanger humanity. “I came across horrifying accounts of how women were ostracised through inhumane means during their menstrual cycles. I saw families risking the lives of their children because a godman asked them to. How can faith lead to such activities? How is spirituality treated with such highhandedness? Such questions made me want to write something like Brinda. Just like me, she too finds herself in the middle of a world that is becoming increasingly polarised, and has many questions and thoughts. In many ways, I am Brinda,” announces Surya over a phone conversation.
A BTS still of Surya Vangala directing Brinda | Special Arrangement
In Brinda, Trisha plays a smart and straightforward cop, whose investigative acumen makes her best equipped to take on the case of a serial killer. Interestingly enough, right from the trailer of the series, we know the identity of the killer. “I didn’t care much about the ‘how’ of the murders. I wanted people to think of the ‘why’. Brinda is certainly not a whodunnit, but a deep introspection of what makes people do what they do,” points out Surya, who was clear about how the titular character should be shaped. “I didn’t want Trisha to play the usual action heroine in Brinda. I didn’t want to write a woman cop who just mirrors what the male cops usually do in our films. I didn’t want her to fit into the archetype of an onscreen cop. Brinda is a character who knows her strengths and limitations. Her greatest strength is not brawn, but sheer grit,” shares Suriya. To further explain Brinda’s thought process, Surya reveals, “Take, for instance, the scene where she confronts the antagonist. Her first instinct is to call out to the other cops to come to the spot. But she never lets him out of her sight, and doesn’t allow him to escape. That, in a nutshell, is what Brinda is all about.”
Trisha is donning the khaki for the first time in Brinda, and Surya agrees that bringing her onboard changed the perception of the series. Taking us behind the scenes of how Trisha moulded herself to play such a layered character in Brinda, Surya says, “We had script reading sessions and rehearsals to help actors get into the skin of the character. Trisha was a thorough professional, and knew exactly what I wanted. I would think of multiple scenarios to explain what I needed in a scene, and she understood it from reading the script. That comes from years of experience and impressive sensibilities. She was Brinda during the shots, and between them, she was in that interesting mix of Superstar and Zen mode.”
Here’s the trailer of Brinda
What truly sets apart Brinda is the way Surya and his co-writer Padmavathi Malladi has brought together the worlds of religious extremism, brainwashing, and a solid investigative thriller. This allowed the makers to take the character through some interesting areas, and gave them a sense of authenticity and dignity. “We were very clear about dealing with the investigation portions with care. We didn’t want it to be run-of-the-mill or a series of happy coincidences. I met senior police officials to get an idea of how things worked,” says Suriya, adding that an important layer of Brinda’s character was how she is her own person. “Yes, we had the characters of Ravindra Vijay and Indrajith Sukumaran, but Brinda has an interesting and wholesome equation with both these characters. There is never a moment in Brinda where the character is in search of a companion. I didn’t want the audience to think of it either because we don’t expect a male cop hunting a serial killer to take time off and romance anyone. Why expect Brinda to do it?”
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A still of Trisha from her debut web series Brinda
The series explores some dark themes, especially with the relentless murders, and the causality of extremism in various religions. While his intention might not be to pinpoint faults in the concept of religion, there are definitely chances of scenes from the series taken out of context and misconstrued. “Yes, there are chances of sections of the audiences taking offence with portions of the series. However, I have to reiterate that my intention was just to question the pitfalls of being on the extremities of anything. There always needs to be the search for the truth. Brinda is essentially the search for an identity. Through the character, I wish the audience to think of their own moralities. Is there a bigger and more complete hero’s arc than this?” signs off Surya.
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