Kaiyum Kalavum review: This social experiment had plenty of ingredients but a disappointing result

Have you ever heard of a housewife wanting to die by suicide because she is living a very happy life? Or a bunch of pickpockets trying to be ingenious in their petty crimes? Or a lawyer who is a pimp and also has a bizarre love story?

Well, this is some of what you get with writer-director-actor Rohit Nandakumar’s Kaiyum Kalavum web series dropping on Sony LIV on 4 November.

With Chinmayi and Bobby Simha playing the part of narrators, the seven episodic series which is quirky with characters that have idiosyncrasies and a bit of unrealistic madness too in a way.

An eccentric storyline

When we start watching the first episode of Kaiyum Kalavum we begin to wonder what this series is all about since the way it has been shot and directed is completely different from what the audience has been used to so far.

It is non-linear, often illogical and with a storyline that is quite eccentric.

The next from @stonebenchers is a webseries titled #KaiyumKalavum !
Watch this unique tale Created by @Roj191993 and it Streams from Nov 4th only on @SonyLIV@kalyanshankar @kaarthekeyens

Trailer out tomorrow ! pic.twitter.com/nXNOjSsyex

— karthik subbaraj (@karthiksubbaraj) October 27, 2022

The story reportedly centres around a thief (played by Rohit) and Anbu (Sanchana Natarajan) — the young man has the insane habit of destroying people’s desires while Anbu is a pickpocket who tries to make do with what she has in life.

The run-up to the two of them meeting happens over several episodes where we meet various other interesting characters.

The director has tried to weave in a different story in every episode so we understand how these random everyday ordinary characters in life meet and get connected.

Not everything adds up

The ensemble cast including Sanchana Natrajan, Rohit Nandakumar, Madonna Sebastian, Senthil, Karu Pazhaniappan, Ramya Nambeesan, Chaams, Vivek Prasanna, and Vijay Adhiraj, does a decent job essaying their respective roles.

Ramya Nambeesan and Sanchana Natrajan are the actors who had different shades to their character and they stood out in terms of performances.

However, when it comes to the storytelling narrative itself it is quite slow. The attempt to include various elements like thrilling moments, sudden twists and comedy doesn’t really add up.

The series is not as engaging because of the new attempt by the director to adapt a different form of storytelling which would have worked had the story been more riveting and moved at a much faster pace.

Even the so-called love angle between the thief and Anbu thanks to destiny is quite insipid.

Hear the soulful music of #KaiyumKalavum composed by @satish_composer here https://t.co/2dV9j018jC

Created by @Roj191993
Presented by @karthiksubbaraj
Produced by @kalyanshankar
Co produced by @kaarthekeyens

Streaming on @SonyLIV from November 4th pic.twitter.com/IesYoToS8Z

— Stone Bench (@stonebenchers) November 1, 2022

Too many elements

Director Rohit Nandakumar had stated in an interview that his series Kaiyum Kalavum is a social experiment.

But the attempt to create this novel personal and humorous experimentation (with Rohit playing the lead role to boot) seems to have failed somewhat. He should have focused more on the writing to narrate a story that grips your imagination.

The number of elements is far too many and very few instances in the series really stand out.

Kaiyum Kalavum is one series with too many an episode.