Kudumbavilakku (
transl. Lamp of the family) is an Indian
Malayalam-language television
soap opera drama.[1] The show premiered on
Asianet channel and also streaming on
Disney+ Hotstar.
Meera Vasudevan portrays the lead role in the series, returning to television after thirteen years.[2][3][4] The first season of the show aired from 27 January 2020 to 1 December 2023. The second season started airing from 4 December 2023.[5][6]
The show revolves around a Malayalee homemaker, Sumithra Menon and her family. Sumithra, a devoted housewife, mother and daughter-in-law, is family-oriented and self-sacrificing. Sumithra is married to Siddharth Menon and has three children; Anirudh Menon, a doctor, Pratheesh Menon, an aspiring musician, and Sheetal Menon, a college student. They live with Siddharth's parents, Shivadas and Saraswati. Except for Shivadas, Pratheesh, Sreekumar and their servant Mallika, no one cares for Sumitra's happiness or feelings. In addition to this misery, Siddharth divorces her and marries Vedhika. Initially devastated, she realises her worth and attempts to rediscover herself. How she transforms into a head-strong woman and gains the love of her family forms the crux of this soap-opera. She starts her business "Sumithra's" which makes her a business magnate. In these days, everyone except Saraswati realised Sumithra's importance. Later, Sidharth files divorce case against Vedhika in order to remarry Sumithra but Sumithra gets remarried with her old classmate and friend Rohit. Vedhika didn't want divorce and she argues in the court for not allowing separation. But some days after Vedhika became a cancer patient but Sidharth didn't took care of her and threw her out of the home. Sumithra takes her to Sreenilayam and they became good friends. Vedhika recovered from the disease. Later Sidharth met with an accident and got full body paralyzed. Sumithra and family looked him very well and he slowly recovered. Shivadas died due to heart failure during his ninetieth birthday. The incident shocked Sreenilayam family. After a few days, Pratheesh and Sanjana with their child moved to Chennai and Ananya moved to abroad where Anirudh is working, Vedhika got out of Sreenilayam and went to Sampath, her ex-husband to meet her son Neerav and request him to send Neerav to her mother's home where she lives for just three months before they shift to Abroad. Sampath didn't agreed but after several requests, he allowed her to stay at his house for 3 months. Then Vedhika and Sidharth got divorced. Sampath remarried Vedhika and lived peacefully with their child. Rohit and Sumithra moved to Rohit's house. Sidharth moved from Sreenilayam to find a job after writing a letter thus making Saraswati alone at the house. Saranya, her daughter take her mother to her husband's home but she began to advice Saranya to took over control to Sreekumar, Saranya's husband. This made Sreekumar angry and asked Saranya to move her out of their home. Saranya took her to an old age home. Then Sumithra started a new life with Rohit and Pooja. The season ends by showing Sumithra, Rohit and Pooja going for a trip.
Season 2
The show takes a 6 years leap. Sumithra mets with an accident and was in coma for 6 years. Pooja survived from the accident but Rohit died. The season begins with Sumithra waking up from comma. She is taken to Deepu and Chithra's home where Pooja is also living. Sumithra's mother died few years back because Sumithra was at coma. Now Sreenilayam is under hands of Paramashivam. Ranjitha, Rohit's sister falsely acquired rights over Rohit's property and she is running all of it. She hates Sumithra and wishes her son Pankaj to get married with Pooja. But Pooja is in relationship with Appu, Deepu's son. But both of them never shared their feeling of love. Ananya and Anirudh working in Abroad are on the verge of divorce, their daughter Swara is living with Prema, Ananya's mother. Sheethal was in depression state and got aborted. Her husband Sachin is mentally ill and treats Sheethal very badly. Anirudh and Ananya returned to Kerala and they decided to live along. But Anirudh is thinking that his Mother is dead as Deepu lied him according to Ranjitha's instructions for money. Pratheesh is in jail for last years in case of murder of Sanjana, his wife. Saraswati Amma was in an old age home for last years, she found refuge in Sumithra's rented house. Saraswathi Amma went to Ranjitha's house and asked Sumithra to stay in the house as it was originally belongs to Rohit. She decided to stay at Ranjitha's house and decided to solve the mysteries of Rohit's death and Ranjitha's falsehoods. Meanwhile, Sidharth, who left home for finding a job in a foreign country returns home. He Now Starts His Plan To Seize Back Sreenilayam From Paramashivam. He unexpectedly meets Anirudh, Sidharth Is Shocked To Learn About Sumithra's Death as Anirudh Told Him. Then he tries to find Sheethal. He found her home and when he reached there, Sachin was about beat Sheethal with a wood piece. But accidentally Sidharth got beaten. He was taken to Hospital and Saraswati took him to Sumithra's home, where he was shocked to see Sumithra alive. Siddharth asked Anirudh to meet him and thus Sumithra met Anirudh.
Cast
Main
Meera Vasudevan as Sumithra[9] – Rohit's widow;Savithri's daughter; Deepu's sister; Sidharth's ex-wife;Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheethal's mother, Pooja's step-mother; Swara and Bhagya's grandmother; Ranjitha's sister-in-law. (2020–present)
Vaishnavi Sai Kumar as Ranjitha – Rohit's sister; Aravindhan's wife; Pankaj's mother. (2023–present)
Devi Menon as Saraswathi Menon[10] – Shivdas's widow; Sidharth and Sharanya's mother; Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheetal's grandmother; Swara and Bhagya's great-grandmother. (2020-present)
Dr. Shaju Sam as Rohith Gopal[11] – Ranjitha's brother; Sumithra's classmate and husband; Pooja's father; Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheetal's step-father; Swara and Bhagya's step-grandfather. (2021–2023) (Dead)
Krishnakumar Menon as Sidharth "Sidhu" Menon[12] – Shivdas and Saraswathi's son; Sharanya's brother; Sumithra and Vedika's ex-husband; Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheethal's father; Swara and Bhagya's grandfather. (2020-present)
Recurring
Sreejith Vijay[13] /
Anand Narayan[14]/
Sreejith Vijay as Dr. Anirudh Menon – Sumithra and Sidharth's elder son; Rohit's step-son; Pratheesh and Sheetal's brother; Pooja's step-brother; Ananya's husband; Swara's father. (2020) / (2020–2023) / (2024–present)
Noobin Johny as Pratheesh Menon[15] – Sumithra and Sidharth's younger son; Rohit's step-son; Anirudh and Sheetal's brother; Pooja's step-brother; Sanjana's husband; Bhagya's father. (2020–present)
Ziva Vivin / Mehak as Swara Menon – Ananya and Anirudh's daughter. (2023) / (2023–present)
Krishna as Premajam – Ananya's mother; Swara's grandmother. (2020–present)
Shibu Laban as Aravindhan – Ranjitha's husband; Pankaj's father. (2023–present)
Anjusree Bhadran as Latha –premaja's house help, Swara's Nani (2023–present)
Ashwathy Prabha as Seema – Sumitra's nurse. (2023)
Kalidasan as Pankaj Aravindan- Son of Rajitha and Aravind, Rohit and Sumithe's nephew (2023–present)
Kishore as Paramashivam (2023-present)
Gouri Prakash / Aiswarya Unni / Neema Rose as Pooja Gopal[22] – Rohit's daughter; Sumithra's step-daughter; Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheetal's step-sister (2021–2022) / (2023–present)
Former Cast
Shwetha Venkat[23] (Episode 1 to 58)/ Ameya Nair[24] (Episode 58 to 110)/
Saranya Anand[25](Episode 111 to 1003) as Vedika – Vasumati's daughter; Siddharth's ex-wife ; Sampath's wife; Neerav's mother, who hates Sumitra later they become best friends.
F. J. Tharakan as Shivadas Menon[26] – Saraswathi's husband; Sidharth and Sharanya's father; Anirudh, Pratheesh and Sheetal's grandfather; Swara and Bhagya's great-grandfather. (2020–2023) (Dead)
Sunitha as Savithri – Sumithra and Deepu's mother; Anirudh, Pratheesh, Sheethal and Jishnu's grandmother; Pooja's step-grandmother; Swara and Bhagya's great-grandmother. (2020–2023) (Dead)
Fawaz Zayani (2020-2023) / Naveen Arakkal (2023) as Sampath[27] – Vedika's husband; Neerav's father
Manoj Nair[28] (Episode 1 to 42)/ Sumesh Surendran as Sreekumar – Sharanya's husband; Nileena's former love interest. (2020–2023)
Sindhu Varma (Episode 1 only)/ Manju Satheesh[29] as Saranya Menon – Shivadas and Saraswathi's daughter; Sidharth's sister; Sreemukar's wife. (2020–2023)
Manju Vijeesh as Mallika – Sreenilayam family's domestic help[30] (2020–2023)
Padmakumar as
CI Narayanan Kutty – Circle Inspector of Police
Bindhu Pankaj as Nileena Bhaskar – Sumithra's best friend since college; Shreekumar's former love interest
Jithu Venugopal as Anoop[31] – a goon who works for Mahendran
Shahnu / Amrutha S Ganesh as Dr. Indraja – Anirudh's superior
Angeline Mariya – Maya
Firosh Mohan as Naveen – Vedika's friend
K. P. A. C. Saji / Amboori Jayan as Ramakrishnan – Sanjana's father; Bhagya's grandfather.
Devi Chandana as Susheela – Ramakrishnan's second wife; Sanjana's step-mother; Bhagya's step-grandmother.
The show was launched on 27 January 2020 at 7.30 PM.[34] After
COVID-19 related break show began airing at 8.00 PM from 15 June 2020.[35][36] The show maintained good TRP for over 3 years.[37][38] The show was shifted to 10.00 PM from 20 November 2023 for climax episodes.[39][40][41] But due to its high rating in the slot, the channel decided to extend the show by starting a new season from 4 December 2023.[42][43] On March 11 2024, the show was shifted to 6.00 PM due to launch of Bigg Boss season 6.[44]