What Is the Story About?
The story is about six cousins Manu, Diya, Sanskriti, Aswathy, Chandu and Megha. Manu has lost his biological father as a child but his mother marries another man. When Manu visits Kerala from Mumbai as a child, then he meets the other 5 cousins. He develops a deep friendship with Diya, who is nearly the same age as him. The first episode is a fast forward where Manu is getting married to Veena. He doesn’t like Veena but he is still marrying her. A day before Manu’s wedding, the cousins plan to elope Manu with Diya.
The plan fails; Manu backs off. What happens next is a bit too dramatic.
Performances?
Krishna T. Vijaychandran plays Manu and Manaswini K. Ram plays Diya. Both of them look pretty natural and good in their respective roles. They bring their young charm that looks very believable. The other cousins are fine in their role but they look a bit too exaggerated. Especially Siddharth B as Chandu, who looks like a comic character.
Only 4 episodes have been released so far and we will get to see more of the actors in the upcoming episodes.
Analysis
The series begins with Manu and Diya talking alone on the road just a night before Manu’s wedding. Manu is clearly drunk and both of them share a romantic tension. However, they are interrupted by a police officer and he leaves only after revealing that they are cousins. Then the plan for elopement is preceded by quirky introductions of each cousin.
The show beautifully shows the arc of how the cousins became close as kids and the fun things they did as grown-ups. But the show doesn’t give us anything extraordinary in the first four episodes. It is too routine, to say the least. There is predictability in everything that the show does.
When Manu meets the cousin as an adult, then Diya is initially annoyed by him but slowly that buds into deep friendship. The kids plan to watch a movie which they think is made just for adults. These are things that are too routine, too usual.
Thus watching Cousins and Kalyanams can feel cute but at the same time it is too much of a time-pass too. The show utterly fails to grab your attention anytime. But since there are many more episodes yet to be released, there have to be more layers in whatever the series is trying to say.
There are going to be 60 episodes in total. Each Friday we will get 4 episodes until the final 4. There has to be a journey of 26 years and we hope that we get more interesting stories in the subsequent episodes.
Music and Other Departments?
Much like the story, there is not much to say about the music either. The show makes minimal use of music and they aid the story. You would never find music grabbing your attention in this series. Talking about setting, that is pretty nice. There are characters who live in Mumbai and Kolkata too. However, Kerala and its beaches are all we have got in the show so far. The usual scenes, which are mostly wedding homes are again, regular.
Highlights?
Performances
Relatability
Drawbacks?
Weak screenplay
Did I Enjoy It?
In parts
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, but with warnings
Cousins and Kalyanams Web Series Review by Binged Bureau
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