Tamilrockerz Web Series Review: A great opportunity frittered

A predictably mainstream approach and lack of ingenuity kill the potential of this series

Tamilrockers, a piracy group, has been the subject of much discussion over the past decade. The Pirated versions of films weren’t just being made available on the day of release. They were always available even before the release. Over the last decade, the piracy group has been a big problem for the film industry. The arrival of OTT platforms helped somewhat, and it’s interesting that it’s on one such streaming platforms that a web series based on the group is out now SonyLIV’s Tamilrockerz has an exciting idea that screams potential. We can see some of the group leader’s behavior. Director Arivazhagan does not give us enough for an eight episode series.

Director.Arivazhagan

Cast.Arun Vijay, Vani Bhojan, Iswarya Menon

Streaming on.SonyLIV

First things first, this SonyLIV series is heavily fictionalised, and it all begins when a superstar’s highly ambitious film gears up for release a week later. An open threat was made by the notorious piracy group that it would have the film released on its site a day before its release. This is about how cops and cyber forensic experts try to prevent this from happening.

The show was an amazing insight into the world of true crime. They had to be tight and gripping, and they did a wonderful job of that.

We need something that isn’t a dull series with a predictable formula.

There is a grieving hero, a dead wife, a smart new colleague, a villain gang, a human trafficking operation, a bombing and guns.

Pirated films are not a big deal. They’re just DVDs or streaming videos that are downloaded and streamed online through the Internet.

A brooding cop who resorts to extra-judicial killings as he grieves over his wife’s death is the character of the cop in the movie. There’s no heroic entry or song here because of the long format storyTelling. This format allows for the exploration of multiple tracks that are interrelated. The makers don’t seem to use the format in the best possible way. The first few episodes show flashes of Rudra’s memories that were haunting him. It serves to distract and hamper the pace because it is more than establishing his character. Arivazhagan’s criticism of nepotism was why we got a caricaturish portrayal of a young superstar and his father. The superstar remains faceless, and this doesn’t make things any better.

The effects of piracy can be seen in a production driver being affected. A failed producer who has become mentally unstable is a character that motivates Rudra to do more. These seem interesting plot points, but they are allbogged down by a lot of cinematic liberties. There is a scene where cops get hold of an old photograph of the OG Tamilrockers group. We don’t understand why we don’t understand this event.

The portrayal of the Tamilrockers group was the most disappointing aspect of the series. They have an image similar to that of a Robinhood among the public. They were shown as another criminal gang here. They work in dingy spaces and are believed to be part of a larger connection between terrorism and human trafficking. The birth of Tamilrockers is reduced to a mere case of personal vengeance, one that reduces such an interesting idea to a mere case of personal vengeance.

The investigating officer is new to cyber crimes, and so, along with him, we are taught the basics of cyber operations, including dull explanations about URLs, domains, and how websites get pulled down. A thriller like this should be a cat and mouse game, but the series lacks intensity despite the central race against time idea. We get the same old gps tracking, bug usage, andUSB hacking, so there is no great exploration of technology.

You can predict the end reveal and twist from a long distance, even though the show ends with a cliffhanger that hints at a second season. The slow motion reveal didn’t inspire me to do anything. It had been a long time since I was relieved that it was over. Cinema la logic paakadheenga, there’s a dialogue that is often used in this show. The magician magic paarunga. I’m not sure Tamilrockerz has much of that either.