‘Sweet Kaaram Coffee’ review: A feel-good series on soul-searching and introspection where brilliant stretches outweigh a few bumps

A still from ‘Sweet Kaaram Coffee’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Ask anyone who travels for pleasure and they’d say how it’s always the journey that matters more than the destination and it’s intriguing how that’s a metaphor for life itself. And what is life but a series of sweet and sour experiences? Prime Video’s latest Tamil original Sweet Kaaram Coffee, cut from that same cloth, is a slice-of-life series that explores how stepping out for some fresh air will often be rewarded with life-altering happenings. Sweet Kaaram Coffee follows the lives of three women – the family’s eldest, Sundari (Lakshmi), her daughter-in-law Kaveri (Madhoo) and her granddaughter Santhy (Niveditha). Riddled with their own problems and in dire need to quench their thirst for freedom, the three embark on an impromptu road trip without informing the two men of the family. Each episode sees them taking a pitstop across different cities where they meet new people, understand several aspects that were once foreign to them, discover a side of them that had stayed dormant for years and introspect on the path they’ve taken in life.

On the surface, Sweet Kaaram Coffee is a simple, straightforward and heartwarming tale of women enjoying the best time of their lives. But like the million onions, Kaveri must’ve cut over the years serving her family, there are layers to the plot. For starters, if Kaveri mulls over her past where she could’ve been more than what she settled for, Nive is worried about the uncertainty of her future, while it’s Sundari who wants to enjoy the current day. While this might sound like a forward our uncle sends on our family WhatsApp group, probably that’s why the current time is called the present. Similarly, the reason for their impulsive decision to take a trip is different for each of them – Nivi wants a break from her relationship where her career decisions aren’t taken seriously, Sundari has an ulterior yet poignant motive and Kaveri, well she just wants to prove to her husband that she can do it. Sweet Kaaram Coffee, just like its title, is a beautiful amalgamation of these women’s desires, insecurities, passion, inhibitions and love.

A still from ‘Sweet Kaaram Coffee’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The series has its share of drawbacks but just like how sometimes scenic beauties make up for the bad roads, dialogues, characters and impressive actors essaying them compensate. For Nivi, despite cricket being her everything, this relationship too matters and the reason for this dilemma is explained with her back story – something that the other two characters get as well. While Kaveri’s flashback isn’t as intriguing, Sundari’s history and the reason for her trip is a fantastic reveal at the end. Even the mediocre stretches that don’t really hit us hard are laced with little subplots that majorly work; like the scene where Kaveri and Sundari discuss their sex lives or when Kaveri and Nive talk about Friends and while the mother thinks it’s the Vijay-Suriya film that they’re talking about, it’s the comedy series for the daughter. Even the one-dimensional male characters have their own interesting arc of their own as the series progress.

Siva Ananth’s dialogues, Govind Vasantha’s music and the brilliant visuals capturing the confines of their house and the vast outdoors add value to the series that’s built on brilliant performances, especially that of the veteran actor Lakshmi. Add to it a cameo from another of Prime Video’s hit series, and nifty touches like a foreign couple named Julia and Roberts which is probably a hat tip to Julia Roberts’s Eat Pray Love, we’ve got the platform’s best non-thriller Tamil original till date. Sweet Kaaram Coffee might have one too many subplots and characters, and even bite more than what it can possibly chew when it comes to the message it tries to push home, but that doesn’t take away the warmth and fuzziness of the feel-good story. Here’s to hoping Prime Video gets the momentum going as far as Tamil originals are concerned and keep the show on the road.

Sweet Kaaram Coffee is currently streaming on Prime Video