“A thriller drama involving a young urban couple whose arranged marriage goes horribly wrong when the wife accidentally kills her husband. This sets off a chain of events that reveal the true nature of every character involved in this marriage,” is what the synopsis of the new web-series Kallachirippu (Deceiving Smile) directed by Roju reads.
Barring a bunch of dialogues that’s few and far in between, the voice-overs appearing in the trailer divulge not much more than what the synopsis already states. The series that will air on July 23 on Zee5 has been produced by Karthik Subbaraj, the director of acclaimed films like Pizza, Jigarthanda, Iraivi and the recently released Mercury.
Halfway into the trailer a character mouths a line which goes, “Nothing could’ve gone wrong had we had a boy. It’s our ill-luck that we got a girl instead.” A daughter is heard telling her mother that sex is for pleasure, there is nothing to be ashamed of. It seems perfectly logical for Karthik Subbaraj, whose Iraivi has been celebrated for its feminist stand, to back this series.
The trailer has the usual symbolism-laced visuals like that of a bulb going off, a character’s hand masquerading as a cocking gun – all of which have become a staple of the thriller/horror genre. Characters who appear to be puzzled and tensed, a blood-stained glass piece, dangling photographs, two people carrying what appears to be a dead body – all suggest that something clandestine is afoot.
As the trailer progresses, the female character takes up most of the screen time. The final five seconds of the trailer has Amrutha Sreenivasan’s different reaction shots suggesting her character to be the protagonist. The movie title appearing towards the end confirms this with the presence of nine figurines of her head, coloured in three different shades and arranged in a semi-circle and emoting in nine different ways.
Here’s the link to the teaser: