A bizarre blend of truth and fantasy

Kaiyum Kalavum

Tamil (SonyLiv)

Director: Roju

Cast: Madonna Sebastian, Remya Nambessan, Senthil

Rating: 3/5 stars

Kaiyum Kalavum is an eight-episode series weaving bizarre occurrences that involves two star-crossed characters, a nameless lad (played by Rohit Nandakumar a.k.a Roju, who is also the director) and Anbu (Sanchana Natrajan).

On one hand, the boy shows signs of aversion when others talk of their desires. He is compelled to squash their desires which makes him a compulsive thief. On the other hand, we see Anbu, a pickpocket, who often messes up due to her rotten ‘luck’. The accidental meeting of the two and their journey through different characters and situations marks the crux of the series.

The episodes offer unusual stories such as a housewife trying to escape a happy marriage, a father who is about to undergo a surgery and is changing his legal-will at the last minute, a lawyer who also turns out to be a pimp, and a librarian wanting to burn down a library. Alongside is the story of a group of pickpockets who begin to devise plans for bigger robbery.

The narrative manages to bring in another surreal element through the conversations between the lead characters and imaginary characters who appear only through voice overs.

The increasing desires of just humans and the overwhelming reality of consequences yield to an overlap between truth and fantasy. While the script appears as a result of laboured writing, it still manages to capture an inherent anger that comes about in a dysfunctional society. The lines between good and bad are blurred only to claim that one’s actions are always situational.

In order to showcase the wounded sides of human beings, director Roju seems to deploy a narrative technique of dream sequences where logic ceases and the audience is forced to suspend disbelief momentarily.

All the actors have performed their characters appealingly. The roles played by Senthil (unwell father), Ramya Nambessan (housewife), Madonna Sebastian (singer), Gajaraj (constable), Vijay Adiraj (chief doctor), Karu Palaniyappan (librarian) and Vivek Prasanna (lawyer) stand out well even though they are given lesser screen time.

Jeeva Subramanian (the transgender), Avinash Raghudevan (Nalla, pick-pocket), Vikas (Aayirum, pickpocket) and Jane Thompson (Mandhiri, pick-pocket), who walk throughout the story, have also performed their roles well.

Kaiyum Kalavum gives you an interesting story but there is a clichéd effort of pooling in fantasy, literature and reality.