What Is the Story About?
Two small-time goons injure a woman in the middle of a burglary while leaving behind her daughter. When one of them lands up in another house in the vicinity, a boy Gilbert locks him up in a cupboard, only to find him dead the next day. How far will Gilly and his trio of friends go to cover up the accidental death?
Performances?
MS Samrith as the nonchalant, rebellious Gilbert plays one of the show’s most exciting characters and makes a meal out of it with his spontaneity and witty retorts. His counterparts – Surya Ragaveshwar, S Surya Kumar, Tarun Yuvraaj and Sasha Bharen – are handed equally meaty roles and do a credible job of bringing them alive on the screen, well-aided by their camaraderie.
Cast as Leo, Naveen Chandra reasserts his adaptability as an actor and portrays a two-sided character with ease. Nandha, not new to playing cops in films and web shows, delivers a measured performance as a righteous cop. Manoj Bharathiraja’s presence isn’t exactly utilised well. Dileepan, Muthukumar, Ramchandran Durairajan, Subash Selvam and Sreejith Ravi do what’s expected of them.
Analysis
Snakes and Ladders would’ve been yet another staple crime saga set in a hill station if the creators had not reimagined it from the perspective of four street-smart school-going boys. The change of optics lends an unconventional dimension to the genre, weaving in an element of innocence, humour, and camaraderie to a tale densely packed with action, drama, and thrills.
The show is predominantly centred on four kids going to extraordinary lengths to cover up crimes committed unintentionally. It all starts with a burglary when a goon beats up the mother of a girl and is accidentally killed by a schoolmate later. The children, while concealing the dead body from public light, find themselves in a deeper mess, caught in a cobweb of cops, gangsters and crimes.
Besides tracing the journey of the kids in the school and their misadventures in the middle of the night, the show unpacks the backstories of the goons, the power struggles among them, a mystery locket and how the cops keep inching closer to the truth in the case. The children, cops and gangsters face consistent roadblocks in their paths and make vain efforts to stay one step ahead of the other.
Directors Bharath Muralidharan, Ashok Veerapan, and Kamala Alchemis are sincere in their attempt to explore the psyche of the younger lot and don’t undermine their intelligence. All five children find uncanny ways and showcase terrific resolve, resilience to bail themselves out of tricky situations. There’s adequate complexity in the setup to keep you absorbed.
The aspirations and the ambiguities of the lead characters are depicted with care. While one of the kids is eager to move to the city with his parents, another boy misses his father, who comes home only occasionally. Another father is a cop and is refreshingly a kind parent. The different worlds of each household are established crisply to suck you into the tale.
The parallels between the kids and the men while handling similar, dangerous situations create an element of intrigue in the storytelling. While there’s deceit, mistrust and panic among the grownups, the children, no less anxious, are united, determined to protect each other and take out-of-the-box decisions. The screenplay is rich in detail and doesn’t compromise on pace either.
The power dynamics among the criminals – Richard, Leonard, Blade and Paneer – aren’t exactly novel or originally written, but the quick pacing helps you overlook the minor niggles. However, Leo’s modus operandi, masking his true intentions through a daytime job at a CCTV manufacturing company and renting a room at a cop’s house, adds an interesting layer to the narrative.
The action segments and chases are raw and appreciably realistic while the cinematic liberties are not too far-fetched either. The visually rich cinematography, hinting at an element of mystery and the zippy score are the cherries on the cake. Snakes and Ladders is proof that you don’t always need a game-changing premise to tell a good story – a change of perspective can do the job.
Music and Other Departments?
The music (by Prithvi Chandrasekhar) and Vignesh Raj’s cinematography contribute so richly to the ambience and (as cliched as it sounds) are invisible characters that drive the essence of the story forward. At over five hours, there’s a lot to absorb in the worlds of the various characters in the story, captured with adequate detail and cinematic flair (in terms of writing and execution).
Highlights?
Performances by the children
Reimagination of a crime saga
Technical finesse
Drawbacks?
Gets slightly predictable towards the end
The ‘too good to be true’ strategies of the children
Power hierarchy among the gangsters
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
If crime sagas interest you, don’t miss it
Snakes and Ladders Series Review by Binged Bureau