Spoilers Ahead!
Released on the 18th, Prime Video’s “Snakes and Ladders” is a young adult thriller originally released in Tamil. The Tamil OTT was created by Kamala Alchemis, Ashok Veerapan and Bharath Muralidharan and produced by Kalyan Subramanian and A Stone Bench Production. The series is divided into 9 episodes with a 30-50-minute runtime per episode.
The title catches the gist of the web series where in a chaotic universe a group of young blood navigates themselves through adversity and extraordinary circumstances.
The narrative technique of Snakes And Ladder
The narrative is set in the temporality of a fictional town called Rettamugadu in the year 2006. The group includes Gilbert played by M.S. Samrith, Bala played by Tarun Yuvraaj, Sandy played by S Surya Kumar and Iraiyan played by S Surya Ragaveshwar. The storyline revolves around the demise of a crook called Blade. The character of Blade is played by Ramachandran. The plot is in a series of actions where Blade fails to hit the base after a heist which includes a priceless locket.
Parallel to the world of criminals and heists is this group of adventurous children reminding us of every young adult adventure series. The nine episodes are namely – Square One, Four Feet Under, Friend or Foe, A Beautiful Mind, Young Blood, Back to Square One, A New Hope, Larcenist and Sought. The trajectory and cop and thrives trope is meant to test the intimate bonding of comradeship amidst adversities.
The narrative gives a sneak into a gory world far from the innocence of the teenagers. This is where we find a rupture in the storyline. It is not any other teenage drama with a hunky-dory background setting. Vociferous elements of violence and profanity are evident time and again. In one scene, a child uses a hammer to smash the feet of an intruder. Even the mise-en-scene of the trailer reveals a strong colour scheme and the background score contours an invitation to a world of experience from a world of innocence. Gopinath Rajendra writes in The Hindu that the aura of the series can be compared to young adult adventures like that in Panchatantra, Famous Five, Secret Seven or any nostalgic adventure series.
The plot of Snake and Ladders
With some fractured familial relations and a strong friendship Gilbert aka Gilli, Bala, Santosh aka Sandy, Iraiyan aka Irai, and Raagitha aka Raagi centres the plot. Each of them has unique lived experiences with Gilli’s absent parents, Sandy’s absent father and Raagi’s health issues. The plot heightens when Gili commits a homicide against his and his grandmother’s defence. Blade and Paari, two burglars break into Gilli’s house. Gilli locks Blade in the cupboard in the kitchen for his safety.
Later it is discovered that the thief was asthmatic and he dies due to asphyxiation. The group initiates a cover-up of the murder while escaping from the gangsters who were searching for Blade’s murderer. The plot juggles the escape from the realities of their fractured households and their search for little joys through their bicycles around the town. Snakes And Ladder fails on any moral character development and corollary any character development.
Mingled with the homicide is the disappearance of a locket pendant with an enclosed painting in it. The goons and the police officers are simultaneously searching for it. The stolen article is missing along with the person who was in charge of the locket. Such conventional elements of mystery create a nostalgic sense of curiosity in the audience.
The debate of genre and ratings
Snakes And Ladder got a rating of 5.12/10 on IMDb which describes the series as “moderately engaging.” However, it is interesting to note that the subplots of the relationships between the friends and parents give an element of slice of life to the series. The town of Rettamugadu, despite its picturesque landscape, fails to give an energetic, intriguing and exciting trajectory or setting. India Today describes the series as an “uninteresting series with morally ambiguous characters.” NDTV writer Chatterjee describes that “the series is broken occasionally by a flurry of action and befuddling comings.”
Negative feedback and backlash
However, there are certain ruptures in the narrative that reveal a tension between elements of dark humour and the genre of young adult adventure/thriller. The adult characters fail to be multilateral. The men in Snakes And Ladder are shown in a Manichean binary where they are either criminals or police officers willing to stake everything to reveal the mystery underlying this chain of events. With little representation in a male-dominated cast, women are portrayed only as damsels in distress.
Interesting to note that the genre of young adult fiction and adventure suffers from this inadequacy where the masculine is the norm. Each episode jumps to the next one in a swiftness that stakes seamlessness. Rather than showing an intrinsic mentality and moral way out of the circumstances, the series uses conventional dramatic tools to display the escape route.
It can be concluded that the series is watchable and has certain elements to ponder upon despite the ruptures. However, the series ends in the middle of things when the boys aren’t out of the woods. The biggest snake hasn’t revealed itself yet. The story continues and the follow-up will be required to enhance the narrative techniques, ensure seamlessness and break the conventional young adult adventure to bring newer fantasies of engagement.
