Inspector Rishi Season 1 Summary: Inspector Rishi follows the adventures of a cynical police officer named Rishi Nandhan (played by Niveen Chandra), who is assigned to look into a string of strange killings connected to paranormal activities.
Inspector Rishi Season 1 Review: A group of tribesmen in Thenkadu, close to Comibatore, commit mass suicide in a cave in the forest twenty years ago, and it is still unknown why. After strange killings occur within the Thenkadu forest twenty years later, Inspector Rishi Nandan (Naveen Chandra) is assigned to crack the case. With his own baggage, Rishi teams up with local police officers Ayyanar (Kanna Ravi) and Chitra (Malini Jeevarathnam), along with forest ranger Sathya (Srikrishna Dayal), forest officer Irfan (Kumaravel), and forest guard Kathryn (Sunainaa). The six journey through a number of intricate cases, strange villagers, and occult activities in order to determine whether Vanaratchasi—a demigod tasked with preserving the forest—is the person killing people out of lust or whether there is a more cunning scheme at work.
Director-writer Nandhini JS has created an intriguing tale by fusing supernatural horror and folklore with an investigative thriller. However, the plot is predictable and has some holes in it. Ten episodes total, each lasting between thirty and forty-five minutes, are featured in the series. At the conclusion of each episode, a portion of the protagonists’ personal and professional struggles are revealed, and by the time the episodes conclude, mummified bodies have started to appear in forests one after another. Inspector Rishi will need to use his one eye to look past layers of falsehoods and manipulation in order to uncover the real story and solve the murder cases.
Although the subplots—Ayyanar’s unhappy marriage, Chitra’s sexuality, Katherine’s trauma, and Rishi’s baggage—are skillfully woven into the narrative, more emphasis ought to have been placed on the supernatural and hoof parts of the story to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. It is also important to highlight Chitra’s role, particularly the scene in which a villager describes how demigods like Vanaratchasi are abandoned due to their nature and Chitra, a queer woman, is unable to resist placing herself in Vanaratchasi’s position. The series does a beautiful job of depicting this metaphor.
Every episode of Nandhini builds towards the series finale, but the show’s already formulaic plot has been undermined by an excessive amount of personal drama. After the main storyline is revealed, ten episodes seem like a lot. It takes until the eighth episode, when everything starts to come together, for the slow-burner episodes to reach their zenith. This series is interesting to watch because of the actors’ mature performances and the supernatural element that each episode has without the clichéd jump scare shots. The lead actor, Naveen Chandra, did a fantastic job portraying an officer who only has one eye. Even though his character’s depth of perception is limited, he is still the best of the bunch. Srikrishna Dayal sticks out for his gentle, collected manner. The series appears impressive technically as well, particularly the nighttime shots of the forest.
For the Tamil audience, Inspector Rishi might not seem like a unique series because they are used to Suzhal, Pizza, or even Kantara. Even at 1*5 speed, it is still worthwhile to watch once.
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