Sweet Kaaram Coffee Review: Lakshmi, Madhoo and Santhy Balachandran's Flight To Freedom Is Needlessly Long and Exhausting (LatestLY Exclusive)

Sweet Kaaram Coffee Review: It's always great to watch a movie or show that talks about giving wings to housewives tied to the four walls of the house. Putting others' needs before them comes at the cost of killing their own desires. When that gets scraped off, the results are always satisfactory. Sweet Kaaram Coffee begins on the same note but gets too wound up in its own cause. Sweet Kaaram Coffee Trailer: Lakshmi, Madhoo Shah and Santhy Balachandran Escape Patriarchy and Explore Life by Taking Road Trip in This Prime Video Series (Watch Video).

Sundari (Lakshmi), the grandmother in the house, is well taken care of but her inner thoughts are never paid any heed by her son Rajaratnam (Kavin Jay Babu), Kaveri (Madhoo) is the perfect wife, mother and daughter-in-law but is often sidelined, Niveditha (Santhy Balachandran) is fighting a silent battle between pursuing her cricketing career or being with her boyfriend. All three women decide to go on a road trip without informing the boys. That ends up becoming a trip of self-discovery.

Sweet Karaam Coffee has good intentions and initially, manages to put that through aptly. Showcasing how women in the majority of Indian families hardly get a chance to present their opinion, talk about their desires, or have an ambition beyond marriage, all work for the series. It borrows heavily from Ashwini Iyer Tiwari directorial Ghar Ki Murgi, perhaps unintentionally. There's also a bit of Chak De India when the cricketer boyfriend of Niveditha tells her women's cricket is not as famous. It's not in your face and so, you don't mind the likeness. Ghar Ki Murgi Movie Review: Sakshi Tanwar-Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's Short Film Is That Much-Needed 'Sorry' To All The Women Who Have Been Taken For Granted!.

Characters are written well, probably because there's a lot of material in the OTT space to get ideas from. They are common characters that we see in many movies and web series. Sundari thus has a great arc and has a mystery around her.

The surprise cameo by Bandish Bandits' Radhe Rathod (Ritwik Bhowmick) in a series so far removed from BB is definitely strange but I didn't dislike this unnecessary crossover. Guess that counts as a plus, right?

Ironically, it is this familiarity of the characters that goes against the series. The entire runtime will leave you with a deja vu feeling. After a while, the similarities get too obvious and interest starts to wane. It's also stretched beyond measure to make a statement. What perhaps the writers forgot is that it's not the journey or the destination that matters but the start. For these three women to embark on a journey like that shedding and fighting their inhibitions along the way is the biggest triumph here. But the same thought gets lost after a while.

To balance the equation, the makers try to show the bond between the father and son left behind in the house. Apart from a few scattered scenes, they hardly explore it further. Even the change of heart needed a gradual progression but the writers were more interested in camping trips rather than character development.

Watch the trailer of Sweet Kaaram Coffee here.

Performances are raw and thus have an appeal. Veteran actress Lakshmi is great to watch with her free-spirited outlook, Madhoo is genuine as a housewife who believes she is 'just a mother', Santhy keeps it controlled and that works. The men in the series do a decent job supporting the women. Roja Star Madhoo on Making Her Bollywood Comeback With Khalli Bali: I Have Always Loved Working in Hindi Films.

Yay!

-character arcs

-similarities don't hurt

Nay!

-too predictable

-derailed objective

-rushed climax

Final Thoughts

Sweet Kaaram Coffee streaming on Amazon Prime is a must watch for all those who have watched the women of their house being relegated to just a doormat. But it could have been so much better that it hurts to see so much potential go to waste.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 06, 2023 04:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).