Did you read part – 1 : Kasalavu Nesam

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Kasalavu Nesam is a 1999 Tamil comedy television series. K. Balachander directed this serial, starring Venu Arvind. The series got telecasted on Sun TV and Raj TV. This refers to as among Balachander’s “most memorable”. Kasalavu Nesam is an out-and-out domestic middle-class comedy. An uproarious and scintillating family fare. It makes fun of people’s hypocrisy. Their compromising commandments of discipline, their bickerings and their failings. 

Storyline

The protagonist, Gautam, is jobless. All his efforts in securing a job fail miserably. His ‘friend in need’ recommends him for a job with a big business magnate. The catch is – in order to get the job, Gautam must marry the boss’s daughter. He marries her anyway, but her lack of beauty makes Gautam cringe. As fate would have it, he falls in love with a beautiful ghazal singer. Soon thereafter, his wife dies. The coast now being clear, Gautam happily marries the ghazal singer. However, his happiness is short-lived. He soon realizes that he now has two fathers-in-law to deal with! 

K B

Life becomes miserable for Gautam. Both his fathers-in-law enforced their influence on him. Their crazy ideas on his everyday life make him feel irritated. Gautam laments that one can afford to have two living wives, but not two living fathers-in-law! Again, as fate would have it, the first wife comes back as a spirit. With the constant appearance of the first wife’s spirit. Gautam loses his mind. The spirit is visible only to Gautam. The events take a more uproarious turn. A series of mind-boggling comic interludes develop. An utter confusion reins amidst the family members.

What I liked in this serial

  • In the serial, Gautam’s family will have a house helper. If we have helpers in our home. They will be coming to our house and working with us or helping us to do a few works. They will talk a lot. Some will come in a hurry and vanish in minutes. But when we sit and talk with helpers, we will come to one fantastic thing. They will use a few English words in their conversation. When we ask, “how they learnt these words”, they will tell us that they learnt by hearing in the various houses. Actually, I have tried this. I used to speak with our sweet lady. She will use a few English words while having a conversation. Balanchader has used that element in a comical way. Pasi Sathya does it brilliantly with the word “dying” in different connotations. Watch Episodes 1 & 6 for that fantastic make. 
Pasi Sathya
  • Dialogues are important in a serial. In the 45th episode, actress Renuka ( In the Psycho movie she played the role of Vasantha. She will be travelling with Nithiya Menon) role is fabulous. Most of the old cinema will have a separate character called, “Manasatchi”. Similar to that Balachander introduces a Shakuntala (Renuka) in that episode. She is talking to her Manasatchi, she  utters a statement, “ En ne manasatchi Elama pesura.” This dialogue is brilliant
Vasantha
  • The veteran director uses a lot of English phrases and idioms in “Kasalavu Nesam.” He plays with Homophones. Those scenes were comical. The characters acting in those scenes carried their role perfectly. 
  • During that time most of the movies were showing concern on the family subject. That decade was famous for those kinds of movies. So this serial seems to be a perfect tribute to that. Usually, the colour becomes a huge role while marrying. If the bride or the groom is not fair they are constantly warned about those by their relatives.
  • Referring to books and movies:
  1. Serials often refer to the character’s situation through movie songs. Even this serial had a lot of cine song references. 
  2. Balachander played with a famous literary dialogue, “Brutus is an honourable man.” He changed gender and used the statement “Raathi is an honourable woman.” The characters stress that statement hard to give the feeling of betrayal. Renuka utters this dialogue to Arudhathi (Gautam’s wife) while they are having a conversation with Rathi (Gautam’s lover)
  3. Next, is the famous balcony scene from Romeo Juliet. Gautam references himself to Romeo for climbing through trees to reach the balcony. 
  • Balachandar brings a “Battle of Waterloo” in a comical tone. 
  • Cinematography and editing of the engagement episode- 21 is fantabulous. The reverse shots of their assumptions were brilliantly taken.
  • Cameos of KBB and T.V.Varadarajan as a lawyer brought a lot of comical effect in the final episodes.   

Characters

The protagonist was perfect doing their roles. Indhu portrays as a woman whose colour is black. Almost all the characters are theatre artists they pulled their roles perfectly. The characters were cast again and again in  KBB’s serials. 

End

A series of mind-boggling comic interludes develop. There is utter confusion rein amidst the family members. Like other comedy shows, this show Kasalavu Nesam was also a type of comedy-drama. It shows in there were a lot of confusions and funny happenings in the life of a guy named Gautam. The music and mimics of many characters add beauty to it. I can assure you this serial will put a smile instead of scorn.

try to watch “Kasalavu Nesam“

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