Cheran’s Journey Series Review: A tedious travel through the tale of five unbelievably upright people 

Why do we all aspire to be placed in top companies with a lucrative pay package? To make use of our education? To make our parents or guardians proud? To earn a livelihood for a comfortable lifestyle? But in Cheran’s Journey, the director’s maiden web series venture, all five protagonists want to earn a more-than-utilitarian salary and sit in a leading position in a reputed company, for either selflessly selfish reasons, or only because society has pushed them to such a situation. Like this didn’t seem impractical enough, the final episode of the series shows every character being kind enough to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to their competition. While I truly wish for reality to be at least 50 per cent like Cheran’s portrayal of it, we know it’s not. And the fact that the series doesn’t manage to even convince us of this alternate reality, is only the beginning of the problem.

Director: Cheran
Cast: Kalaiyarasan, Kashyap Barbhaya, Prasanna, Divya Bharathi, Aari Arjunan, Jayaprakash, Sarath Kumar

The series does not waste time to jump right into the central conflict. One coveted job, five equally qualified candidates. We expect the narrative to begin with 5 people eating each other’s heads off for the job. While these too-good-to-be-true characters cannot possibly harm one another, the fact that the series chooses to individually tell every story and then let them fight it out only in the last episode itself was a disappointing choice.

Let me explain... The series starts with Ameer Sulthan’s (Kalaiyarasan) story of why he is the most deserving of the job. Ameer has always been neglected opportunities because of his identity as a Muslim. Next up, in the second episode, we have Nithesh’s (Kashyap Barbhaya) journey, a privileged man with a happy life, whose one small mistake robs him of all happiness. Thirdly, we have Raghav (Prasanna), who faces immigrant minority politics in America during Donald Trump’s rule. The first issue is that all these episodes are in different languages, namely, Tamil, Hindi and English, which makes it difficult for us to settle in with the narrative. By the time the series comes back to Tamil, we’re well into the fourth episode, which is almost halfway through. Further, the tragic nature of all three stories does not help the case at all.

Cheran has tried a non-linear screenplay, and it is an interesting choice. The narrative goes back and forth, and we don’t get to know even a single character’s story at one stretch. While this uncertainty is initially engrossing, it gets into a rut of predictable unpredictability. The issue is the editing as we don’t get proper segues when the screenplay shifts from one character’s backstory to another. Additionally, the flashbacks are narrated from the perspective of a random recruiter (Jayaprakash) as he researches these candidates. But, who does research in such an erratic manner, without completing one story at a time?

Cheran touches up a wide array of issues in the series. From minority oppression, immigrant politics, and India’s agrarian problems, to issues in bureaucracy, Cheran’s Journey has it all. But it’s like we only look at them superficially without allowing any theme to become impactful. And in the few episodes that try to detail the hurdles, it becomes too preachy transcending into a tableau than a feature work. The world-building is not efficient either. While I did want to feel bad for Ameer when someone teases him by saying, “Ivan laam kadaisi varaikum namma kaal la dhaan da vilindhu kedakanum,” I really don’t because the trauma he faces is conveyed through mere dialogues like, “En per Ameer Sultan, M.Tech Gold medalist. Aana en per Ameerndradhu naalaye life eh problem,” and not action. You can hardly empathise with any of these characters, let alone relate.

This lack of empathy spells to be problematic in the last episode of the series where we see all five of them be extremely white characters. Why doesn’t Cheran’s world have even one selfish character, who wants the job because they truly want to earn what they deserve? Okay, let them all want to do good for society or want the job only because society has wronged them. Even then, why do they have to be so selfless when they’re presented with the job? Well, there’s no real convincing reason except for the fact that Cheran’s world is just that white.

The only possible saving grace of the film is the problems it brings up. While it doesn't give them much focus, at least it acts as food for thoughts. Divya Bharathi, Prasanna and Kalaiyarasan offer us competent performances that highlight their characters’ stories a little more. But even those few scenes with good acting are spoilt by green screen editing and lip sync issues.

At the end of the day, Cheran’s Journey does not try to take the road less travelled. While watching the series, we feel like Cheran is the backseat driver who tells us how to feel for each and every character in his series, except that the drive is on a road that is filled with p(l)otholes. And when it comes to the destination, it is underwhelming that he takes the safest route to bring it home. Cheran’s Journey is at a crossroads at its best, and disappointingly safe at its worst.