The
casting
of
Marathi
theatre
and
screen
actors
gives
Manvat
Murders
its
stamp
of
authenticity,
observes
Deepa
Gahlot.
A
doctor
in
a
Maharashtra
village
says
that
there
is
a
proper
hospital
in
the
nearby
town
but
the
villagers
would
rather
go
to
faith
healers
and
shamans
when
they
fall
ill.
This
superstition
was
the
cause
of
the
horrific
spate
of
ritualistic
killings
that
make
up
the
true
crime
series,
Manvat
Murders.
Ignorance
too.
A
man
uses
a
shaman
to
find
buried
gold
in
his
land
and
says,
‘I
am
a
graduate’,
so
education
is
not
an
antidote.
The
series
is
set
in
Manvat
village
in
the
early
1970s
when
the
crimes
occurred.
Then
as
now,
human
sacrifices
are
clandestinely
conducted
by
greedy
people.
The
only
reason
this
case
was
even
investigated
was
because
seven
women
and
girls
were
murdered
and
mutilated.
Ramakant
Kulkarni
(Ashutosh
Gowariker),
a
crime
branch
officer
from
Mumbai,
is
sent
to
look
into
the
murders.
The
real
officer’s
book,
Footprints
In
The
Sands
Of
Crime
is
the
source
material
for
the
Web
series,
written
by
Girish
Jayant
Joshi
and
directed
by
Ashish
Avinash
Bende.
The
sensational
crime
has
already
been
filmed
by
Ramdas
Phutane
as
Sarvasakshi
(1978)
and
by
Amol
Palekar
as
Akriet
(1981).
Decades
later,
it
still
makes
sense
to
bring
it
to
the
small
screen
because
the
superstition
that
caused
the
deaths
of
so
many
innocents
has
still
not
been
rooted
out
of
Indian
society.
When
Ramakant
and
his
assistant
Vakatkar
(Mayur
Khandge)
arrive,
they
find
a
local
team,
baffled,
but
raring
to
go.
The
prime
suspects
are
the
landlord
and
loan
shark
Uttamrao
(Makarand
Anaspure)
and
his
tribal
mistress
Rukmini
(Sonali
Kulkarni),
who
were
arrested
but
got
away
due
to
lack
of
sufficient
evidence.
They
were,
however,
externed
from
the
village,
and
supervise
their
criminal
activities
remotely,
with
Rukmini’s
sister
Samindri
(Sai
Tamhankar)
in
charge.
When
an
unscrupulous
shaman
(Kishor
Kadam)
tells
Rukmini
that
her
inability
to
bear
a
child
will
be
‘cured’
by
the
sacrifice
of
a
prepubescent
girl,
he
did
not
expect
them
to
go
ahead
with
it.
Failure
to
conceive
and
also
to
find
the
rumoured
treasure
leads
to
even
more
murders.
Since
everyone
in
the
village
has
taken
loans
from
Uttamrao,
nobody
has
the
courage
to
speak
out
against
him.
Ramakant
realises
that
he
will
have
to
understand
the
mindset
of
the
villagers
if
he
has
to
reach
the
culprits,
and
advises
the
local
cops
to
have
patience
if
they
are
to
build
a
watertight
case
against
Uttamrao
and
Rukmini.
Since
details
of
the
case
and
its
outcome
are
already
known
—
shockingly,
the
two
got
away
with
their
gruesome
crimes
—
the
series
is
a
slow
moving
but
thorough
police
procedural,
during
which
mistakes
are
made,
corruption
exposed
and
another
life
lost.
Ramakant
believes
in
applying
criminal
psychology
to
get
confessions,
not
beatings
and
torture.
So
more
than
the
investigation
itself,
the
show
is
a
study
of
rural
life
—
the
poverty
that
makes
a
man
kill
for
as
little
as
Rs
15
and
a
bottle
of
alcohol
—
the
caste
loyalties
and
the
sheer
terror
of
divine
wrath.
Since
then,
progress
has
been
made
in
the
villages
but
even
today,
caste
remains
a
strong
binding
force,
and
there
is
no
getting
away
from
blind
faith.
Ashutosh
Gowariker
plays
that
rare
screen
cop
who
is
gentle.
There
is
no
swagger
in
this
manner,
no
profanity
in
his
speech.
Even
as
he
keeps
hitting
walls
of
silence
and
complicity,
he
is
usually
calm.
It’s
a
pity
that
Sonali
Kulkarni
as
Rukmini,
who
was
the
instigator
of
the
murders,
is
not
given
enough
screen
time.
She
is
as
cruel
as
Uttamrao
is
rapacious,
but
she
is
also
afraid
of
rejection
and
powerlessness.
Sai
Tamhankar,
as
the
reluctantly
obedient
sister,
gets
the
better
scenes
and
gives
an
excellent
performance.
The
casting
of
Marathi
theatre
and
screen
actors
gives
Manvat
Murders
its
stamp
of
authenticity.
To
its
credit,
it
also
has
a
certain
restraint.
There
is
violence
and
horror,
but
like
the
recent
Sector
36,
it
is
not
sickening.
Manvat
Murders
streams
on
SonyLIV.
Manvat
MurdersReview
Rediff
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