‘Ayyana Mane' series review: Khushee Ravi anchors this passable murder mystery
Ayyana Mane is out on Zee5, the streaming counterpart of ZeeTV, known for popular soap operas. It is directed by Ramesh Indira and produced by his wife, Shruti Naidu. The couple has vast experience in making television content, and this amalgamation has resulted in a web series that tries hard to come out of the hangover of a TV serial.
Ayyana Mane is billed as the maiden Kannada web series on Zee5. However, with six episodes, each around 18 minutes, the murder mystery is essentially a mini-series that just about remains watchable. Set in the 90s of Chikkamagaluru, the series begins with Jaaji (Khushi Ravi) marrying Dushyantha (Akshay Nayak) and moving to Ayyana Mane, a large household headed by her mother-in-law Nagalambike (Manasi Sudhir).
Ayyana Mane (Kannada)
Director: Ramesh Indira
Cast: Khushee Ravi, Manasi Sudhir, Anirudh Acharya, Akshay Nayak
Runtime: 6 episodes, 18 minutes each
Storyline: Jaaji arrives at her marital home on her wedding day, only to witness her father-in-law's sudden death. As she discovers more chilling secrets, Jaaji must find a way to survive in the house
Jaaji's marital life begins on a wrong note when her father-in-law passes away the day she arrives at Ayyana Mane. Even as her husband supports her amid suspicion against her, Jaaji realises she is in a cursed house. One by one, daughter-in-laws die at Ayyana Mane under mysterious circumstances, and Jaaji fears her turn could come anytime.
The series piques some curiosity by spotlighting multiple people to make us guess the murderer. Is Jaaji's husband, Dushyantha, really a kind-hearted man? Do Dushyantha's brothers have an ulterior motive? Is Nagalambike hiding some secrets? We wonder about these things, but the series doesn't have mind-boggling twists to keep us on the edge. Ayyana Mane doesn't carry the tension familiar with solid murder mysteries.
Ayyana Mane will work for those wanting to watch a simple whodunnit. For ardent followers of TV soaps, the series is a better outing, thanks to its straightforwardness, one would expect from a TV serial, minus the zoom-in and zoom-out camera techniques, loud background scores, and caricaturish characters.
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Cinematographer Rahul Roy creates an atmosphere suitable for the premise with his low-key lighting and slightly unconventional camera angles. Despite their limited character arcs, the ensemble cast is impressive, with Khushee Ravi and Manasi Sudhir being the standouts.
The minor reveals in the few episodes give the series a decent closure, but Ayyana Mane has one too many subplots that could have had better arcs. There's the angle of people fearing the anger of daiva (god), and the plot has a touch of supernatural elements as well. There's a culture clash when an urban woman (Hita Chandrashekar) comes as a daughter-in-law. There's Jaaji's silent fortitude, which makes her unique. The series even tries to understand the psyche of the killer. But all these aspects never get fleshed out to give us a sense of fulfilment.
Ayyana Mane is currently streaming on Zee5
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