Thatteem Mutteem


Thatteem Mutteem is an Indian Malayalam-language sitcom television serial airing on Mazhavil Manorama, since 5 November 2011. The first season depicts the conflicts between Mayavathy Amma and her daughter-in-law Mohanavally, surrounded by their middle class family that includes Mohanavally's husband Arjunan and their children—Kannan and Meenakshi. The currently running second season mainly centers around Meenakshi and her husband Aadhi Sankaran.
The series is shot with Full HD cameras. The first season of the show followed a sitcom format and was launched in 2011 airing every weekend. The show ran for six years and was well received among the Malayali audience. On 3 December 2018, the show changed its format into a prime time soap opera running from Monday to Friday at 9:00 PM IST and presently aired at 8:30 PM IST. The show won the Kerala State Television Awards in 2014 and 2016.

Premise

Season 1

The recurring theme is the quarrel between the Mayavathyamma and her daughter-in-law Mohanavally, and the struggle of the kids and Arjunan to resolve it. Although the daughter-in-law has a strong distaste towards the mother-in-law, they share a mutual respect for one another.
They are frequently visited by Arjunan's best friend, Kamalahasanan, Mohanavalli's mother, Komalavally, and Arjunan's sister Kokila, his sister and her children Bhavani and Bharathi.

Season 2

Meenakshi has reached the marriagable age. She planned to marry Aadhi Shakaran, upon Kamalasanan's advice as a marriage broker. Meanwhile, Arjunan's millionaire brother Sahadevan, his wife Vidhubala and their three children Chinnu, Chikku and Chinnan arrive from the United States. Aadhi Shakaran was thought to be a workaholic person and the manager of a big construction company. His father Pravasi Shankaran was believed to be a very big businessman, having businesses in many parts of the world. In the course of events, it was discovered that Pravasi had lost his business empire because of many cheats and now works as a lottery selling agent and Aadhi is a lazy youth and the family are debted to many. It was first discovered by Kamalasanan followed by Meenakshi and her friend Neenu. Meenakshi thought that she will change the lazy Aadhi after their marriage and proceeded with the marriage without informing the truth to her family. After their marriage Aadhi's family wanted to sell Meenakshi's jewellery for money but she refused. Soon Meenakshi's family discovers the truth and asks her to break the marriage which she agress. But before she could do that Pravasi won a lottery worth INR 5 crores and she decides to stay. He goes mad after being involved in a road accident, due to excitement of winning the lottery ticket and to call himself 'The King'. Arjunan, his family and Kamalasanan planned to take the lottery ticket and get the money in their hands but the plan fails and Vasavadatha got all the money. Aadhi and Meenakshi try to please her to get money but failed. Vasavadatha tries to seperate Meenakshi and Aadhi with the help of Aadhi's cousin Chakki but the couple's love for each other grew. In spite of their hate relation the daughter in law- Mother in law duo loved each other just like how Mayavathiyamma and Mohanavalli did. Even when Aadhi remained lazy and jobless Meenakshi continued to love him like how Mohanavalli loved Arjunan understanding all his faults. Pravasi now thinks that he is a saint. Kannan falls in love with Rosamma ,a Christian girl after a series of events much to the family's disapproval. But later for dowry they agrees to their marriage to repay a loan taken for Meenakshi's wedding but the plan backfires when Kannan unaware of their plan informes Rosamma's parents that he want nothing from them except their daughter.Meenakshi's family wants the Meenakshi and Aadhi to be parents soon but Vasavadatha hates the idea as she thinks that the couple are immature, jobless and financially unstable. Meenakshi got pregnant soon despite of Vasavadatha's efforts and gives birth to triplets Kunjumani, Muthumani and Kuttappayi. Mayavathiyamma now got a bank notice as she failed to repay the loan taken during Meenakshi's wedding. Kamalasanan and Arjunan tried to solve the problem but failed. Meenakshi is now asked to find a solution for the same.

Cast

Main

and Manju Pillai play the role of the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law respectively. The mother-in-law outwits her daughter-in-law and is always ready to start a fight with her and the daughter-in-law rises to the occasion. Jayakumar plays Manju’s husband who is a government officer unwilling to go to work and who lives on his mother's pension. Their children Kannan and Meenakshi were played by real-life siblings Siddharth and Bhagyalakshmi Prabhu. They were cast after the show creators were impressed by their performance in the reality TV show Veruthe Alla Bharya on Mazhavil Manorama, in which their parents were contestants. Bhagyalakshmi was studying in class 11 when she received the offer, she is a nursing graduate in real-life and in the show too. The children are one of the main attractions in the series as they frequently instigate fights between the two women. Naseer Sankranthi plays the role of Kamalasanan who is the best friend of Mahakavi Arjunan and old classmate of Sahadevan, who boasts that he will be the Panchayat Member in the upcoming years.

Release history

The show started airing on Mazhavil Manorama in 2012, televised on Saturdays at 8:00 PM IST. Then shifted the schedule to Fridays at 9:30 PM IST. Later in 2014 the show shifted to Saturdays at 9:30 PM IST. In 2015 again a schedule change happened and the show was given the slot of 7:30 PM IST every Saturday. Even though several schedule changes have occurred the show is well accepted by the audience. It was re – scheduled to air at 10:00 PM IST every Monday to Friday from 24.06.2019.
DateTime
2012 – 2013Saturday, 8:00 PM IST
2013 – 2014Saturday, 9:00 PM IST
2014Friday, 9:30 PM IST
2015Saturday, 9:30 PM IST
2015 – 2016Saturday, 7:30 PM IST
2016Friday, 8:00 PM IST
2016 – 2017Saturday, 8:00 PM IST
2017 – 2018Saturday, 9:00 PM IST
2018Sunday, 10:00 PM IST
3 December 2018 – 21 June 2019Monday to Friday, 09:00 PM IST
24 June – 8 November 2019Monday to Friday, 10:00 PM IST
11 November – 29 November 2019Monday to Friday, 08:30 PM IST
2 December 2019– 3 July 2020Monday to Friday, 10:00 PM IST
11 July 2020- PresentSaturday,Sunday, 8.30 PM IST

Reception

The series was successful, mainly because of the children, who lose no opportunity to instigate fights between the two women. Thatteem Mutteem is considered special in that the show is recorded using "spot dialogues". This technique creates a natural sound and look. The artists behave as if in real situations. Moreover, the acting is natural and simple and the series relates to the reality of the modern day which led the series to its success.

Awards