Like a plump scented candle, Muthu Engira Kaattaan (Muthu Alias Kaattaan) burns slowly. The Tamil series, led by Vijay Sethupathi, is in no rush to reveal why the head of Sethupathi’s Muthu is perched atop a rock on the outskirts of a village.
The rest of Muthu’s body is nowhere in sight. There’s also a tonne of money lying around.
Muthu’s visage has a grisly grin. The show too plays out like a lengthy cosmic joke involving a Zelig-like figure who’s saint as well as sinner, a bunch of rural policemen, and other players spread out far and wide.
The revenge-and-redemption saga is out on JioHotstar. It begins with Kalai Pandiyan, for whom law enforcement is a side hustle to goat rearing. Yet, Kalai (Vadivel Murugan) doesn’t want his police station to be shuttered because of a negligible crime rate. The case of the headless Muthu galvanises the constable and his senior officers, setting them on a quest that involves every one of their grey cells and many litres of petrol.
A village elder (Balaji Sakthivel) provides the first clue into Muthu’s identity – Muthu was a bouncer for a dance troupe led by Meena (Risha Jacobs). It turns out that Muthu held several jobs in different places.
The peripatetic soul has something to do with the suave businessman Sivettan (Milind Soman) and his sworn enemy Johny (Sudev Nair) in Kerala. Sub-inspector Siddharthan (Muthukumar) travels with his colleague Thangamudi (Singampuli) to Kochi, where one piece of the puzzle lies. Back in Tamil Nadu, Kalai heads out on his bike, chasing down clues that complicate, rather than resolve, matters.
M Manikandan and B Ajithkumar have created and directed the series, alongside writing the screenplay with La Rajkumar. Muthu Engira Kaattaan is modelled on Malayalam shows that begin small, expand considerably and then return to the source after ambling and rambling.
The 10 episodes are devoted as much to detailing as to detection. The series is decisively not in a neo-noir mould, with rustic settings, rooted characters and a refreshing absence of cynicism.
Muthu’s path zigzags through religious fairs and village markets, and involves ordinary people whose lives he touches in important ways. The police officers, although resembling nobody’s idea of fleet-footed gumshoes, are plucked out of the same soil that serves as Muthu’s final resting place. Siddharthan, who tends to lapse into English, particularly proves to be sharp, sensing that there’s more to Muthu’s back story than is being revealed.
Some of the plotting borders on the indulgent and then the absurd, especially in the Kerala chapter of Muthu’s life. As the fog begins to clear around Muthu and he becomes less enigmatic, the show strains to justify its chosen pace.
The leisurely pacing, which manages to pack at least one twist per episode, includes a disposable sub-plot about the melodrama raging in Kalai’s home. It appears to be an excuse to boost Vadivel Murugan’s screen time, and give this compelling actor enough scenes to compete with his colleagues’ exertions in Kerala. Muthukumar too is very good as the cop who’s a bit like Marge Gunderson from Fargo in his slow movements and quick-witted ways.
The star attraction is, of course, Vijay Sethupathi. The Tamil movie star is one of those rare actors whose presence can be felt even before he enters the frame. Sethupathi’s sly charisma and tendency to underplay the big moments are exactly what are needed to keep viewers invested in Muthu’s journey. It’s nothing short of an odyssey, which slackens here and there but finally comes together satisfactorily.
Muthu Engira Kaattaan eventually ties up its loose ends while leaving some of the mystery intact. The series could have been a whole lot crisper. The equivalent of Kalai’s goats needed to have been sacrificed to deliver the desired spread of crime blended with philosophical musings on human nature.
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