Pooja is raised in an orphanage, Snehasadhanam by her foster-father Vishwanathan and has a sweet, kind disposition. She, in reality, is Anu, the long-lost daughter of Nandagopan and the late Arunima. She was separated from her family following an accident which killed her mother and supposedly her too. The accident was plotted by her paternal uncle, Shankar Ram for inheriting her father's wealth. She comes across her living father, Nandagopan and develops a bond with him, though unaware of their relationship. Arjun, humble despite his wealth, is a leading criminal lawyer. Pooja and Arjun meet several times and develop a mutual dislike for each other due to their contrasting personalities.
Vishwanathan rejects the business offer of Sakshi, a crooked businesswoman who wishes to buy Snehasadanam ashram. To get rid of Vishwanathan, she frames him for the murder of Theja with the help of Priya, another inmate of Snehasadanam. Nandagopan takes up the case. Priya masquerades herself as the long-lost Anu and returns to Nandagopan. Due to Pooja and Priya's varying statements on the Theja murder Case, Nandagopan backs off from the case, causing Pooja to look for another lawyer. Pooja attempts to hire Arjun but he backs off citing that his remuneration is beyond her capacity.
Arunima's family reunites with fake Anu and decides to get her married to Arjun, who is her cousin. Arjun who loathes love and marriage refuses but eventually has to relent due to the family's pressure. To break the marriage, he puts a condition ahead of Pooja to enter a one-year contract marriage with him in return for him acquitting her father without any fees. Without another choice, Pooja accepts the offer. The two secretly marry in a temple on Arjun's engagement day and pretend like a married couple in front of the family. Priya and Arjun's aunt, Madhumita, who hates Pooja because of a past incident, try to discredit and endanger Pooja several times but fail in every attempt. Over time, Arjun and Pooja develop a good friendship bond and fall for each other.
Akhil falls in love with a feisty girl, Sneha and secretly marries her when the family decides to get him married to Priya. Arjun and Pooja discover that Arunima was alive all along and is living as a nurse after suffering memory loss and reunite her with the family.
Adv. Nandagopan and Arunima's daughter, Anu, who was separated from her family as a toddler following an accident. Unaware of her true identity, she grew up as an orphan named Pooja in Snehasadanam Ashram. She married Arjun, her cousin, under a one-year contract in return for releasing her jailed foster father, Vishwanathan. She later falls in love with Arjun. (2021–present)[2]
A successful criminal lawyer; Arunima's nephew and Anu's cousin. Arjun, who disapproves of romantic love and marital relationships, enters into a contract marriage with Pooja to break his engagement with Priya and to stop any further marriage proposals from his family. However, he eventually changes his opinion on marriages and falls in love with Pooja. (2021–present)[2]
Recurring
Gayathri Mayura as Priya alias Fake Anu
A fellow inmate of Pooja in Snehasadanam who hates her since childhood. She is a criminally minded woman who forged herself as the long-lost Anu and made a fake murder accusation against Vishwanathan. Initially, she wishes to marry Arjun and then his brother, Akhil, for her secure future. (2021–present)[2]
Arjun's mother; a devoted homemaker. She accepts Pooja as her daughter-in-law despite the disapproval of the rest of the family and develops a motherly bond with her. She is kind-hearted and soft-spoken and wishes to bind her family together. (2021–present)[6]
Nandagopan's wife and Pooja's biological mother who was believed to be killed in an accident. She was later revealed to be alive leading her life as a nurse after suffering a memory loss. (2021–present)
Arunima and Anand's younger sister; Arjun's paternal aunt. A crooked woman who has teamed up with Priya due to their common hatred towards Pooja. Her internal motive is to create problems in the family to gain power and money for herself. (2021–present)[2]
Arunima, Anand and Madhumita's mother and the family matriach. She is an affectionate and headstrong lady with her own views and ethics who is still mourning the death of her daughter, Arunima. She wishes Priya to be her granddaughter-in-law believing her to be the real Anu and therefore disapproves of Arjun's marriage with Pooja. (2021–present)
Arjun's younger brother who takes care of the family business. He supports his brother's marriage and initially adored Pooja. Though he later starts hating her influenced by Priya's charm but soon discovers Priya's criminal actions and regains his respect towards Pooja. (2021–present)
Amrutha Nair as Sneha
Akhil's wife. An LLB graduate, she is a no-nonsense girl and a troublemaker. (2022–present)[14]
The long-time domestic help of Arjun's family who is considered as their family member. She finds Pooja lovable from the beginning and adores her. She is a bold lady who always supports her dear ones and is not hesitant to stand up against injustice. (2021–present)
Tony Antony (2021)[16] → Amith (2022) → Tony Antony [2] as Anand
Madhuri's husband, Arjun's father and Arunima's brother. He is a successful businessman. Even though he appreciates Pooja's qualities, he is yet to come to terms with Arjun's marriage to her and still internally wishes his sister's daughter to be his daughter-in-law. (2022–present)
Mohan Ayroor[17][18] as Adv. Nandagopan Marar alias Nandan
Pooja's father and Arunima's husband; a successful lawyer and businessman. He was elated to unite with Priya (believing her to be Anu) after spending years in sorrow believing her to be dead. He shares a fatherly bond with Pooja though unaware of each other's identities. He still cares for Pooja and Arjun in spite of them betraying his supposed daughter. (2021–present)
Shibu Laban as Vasanthan
Madhumita's henpecked husband; an unemployed amateur mimicry artist. He often teams up with Madhu and Priya to create confusion between Arjun and Pooja. (2021–present)
A criminal-minded businesswoman; Priya's ally. She wishes to buy Snehasadanam for opening a resort and frames a murder case against Vishwanathan to gain the plot. She shares a past rivalry with Arjun which involves the suicidal death of his best friend, Devan after Sakshi's love betrayal. (2023–present)
Kiran as Georgekutty
Arjun's legal assistant. He is loyal and respects Arjun and Pooja and often assists them in the Snehasadanam issue. He advises Arjun about married life, despite being unmarried himself. (2021–present)
Nandana Thulasi as Jeena
Pooja's best friend and colleague. She is the only person who knows about the truth of Pooja's marriage with Arjun. She shares a close bond with Pooja and finds Arjun's actions suspicious. (2021–present)
Dr Jayan as Shankar Raman Marar
Nandagopan's younger brother. He pretends like a devoted younger brother to Nandan but is actually the one who plotted the accident that killed his brother's family twenty years back. His aim is to gain his brother's vast wealth after removing Priya from his way. (2021–present)
Devendranath as Commissioner Hemachandran IPS
A corrupt police officer; Senapathi and Shankar's accomplice. (2023–present)
A renowned politician and Sakshi's father who supports her criminal activities. He is also a friend of Shankar Ram and was an active member in planning Nandagopan and his family's accident. (2021; 2023–present)
Pradeep Prabhakar as Dathan
Sneha's father and a friend of Anand. (2022–present)
An inmate of Snehasadanam; Vasanthan's mother; Madhumita's mother-in-law. She was thrown out of her house by Madhu and was admitted to Snehasadanam by Pooja. (2021–present)
Pooja's foster-father and the establisher of the orphanage Snehasadanam Ashram. He was fakely accused of murder by Priya and Sakshi for claiming his plot containing the Ashram where they plan to open a resort. (2021–present)
Sindhu Jacob as Athira
Shankar's wife. She cares for her husband's family and grieves the tragedy that hit them. She is unaware of her husband's true face. (2021–present)
Ranjith Raj as Jeevan
A fraudster hired by Priya and Shankar to create problems in Arjun's family by making Sayu fall in love with him. (2022)
An inmate of Snehasadanam; Meenakshi's husband; Vasanthan's father; Madhu's father-in-law. He and his wife were thrown out of their house by Madhu and later reached Snehasadanam. (2021-2022)
Amboori Jayan as Joseph
A driver hired by Shankar to murder Nandagopan's family. He later repents his action and dies after confessing the truth to Nandagopan and Pooja. (2021)
Sakshi's goon who was part of the group which disposed of Theja's dead body. He later teams up with Arjun, only to cheat him at the last moment. (2022)
Venki as Harichand Theja
Priya's ex-boyfriend who was murdered by Sakshi for framing Vishwanathan. (2021)
Nancy as Laali
An accomplice of Arjun who traps Vasanthan in a honey trap. (2022)
Subeer Bavu as Sharath
A former inmate of Snehasadanam. (2021)
Ashraf Pezhumoodu as Commissioner Padmakumar P IPS **A police officer who helps Nandagopan in tracking his family's murderer. (2021)
Vinayak as Rahul
An ex-boyfriend of Priya with whom she breaks up because of his financial status. (2021)
Madhuri's childhood friend who teams up with her to stage a drama to persuade Pooja and Arjun to have kids. (2022)
Tom Jacob as Mahesh Manjalikulam
A man who gives charity donations in return for sexual favours from women. He repents his actions after getting a befitting reply from Pooja. (2022)
Pala Aravindan as Padmanabhan
A farmer who provides accommodation for Arjun and Pooja when they get lost in a jungle. (2022)
Kalady Omana as Annamma
Padmanabhan's wife. (2022)
Anu Lakshmi as Shalini
A young girl who attempts suicide believing that her lover was cheating on her. Arjun donates blood to save her life which also paves the way for his first meeting with Pooja. (2022)
Sreenath Swaminathan as Musafir
A friend of Arjun and Pooja during their honeymoon (2022)
Vyshnavi Krishnajith as Reshmi
Pooja's friend. (2023)
Satheesh Vettikkavala as Arjun's junior advocate (2021)
A fictionalized version of herself as a well-wisher of Pooja. She plays a crucial role in making Pooja and Arjun accept their love for each other. (2022)[16]
Cameo appearance as her character from soap opera Bhavana. She helps Pooja meet Arjun while he is hospitalised. (2022)
Production
Development
The show's launch was planned for April 2021 but was delayed until November due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[23] It was reported in October 2021, that Kaliveedu is an official remake of the popular Tamil soap opera Roja.[19]
The first promotional video of Kaliveedu featuring lead actress Rebecca Santhosh was released in September 2021. The show premiered on Surya TV on 15 November 2021. It is telecasted every day at the 9:00 p.m. (IST) time slot.[26] On the digital platform, Kaliveedu is available for viewing on the app Sun NXT.[3]
Soundtrack
All music is composed by Saanand George
Original Songs
No.
Title
Lyrics
Singer(s)
Length
1.
"Unarum Nilavu Polaval"
K Gireesh Kumar
Nimisha Kurupath, Satheesh Dev
1:08
2.
"Ponnoliyil Poothulayum"
3:01
Total length:
4:09
Reception
The show received positive response from the audience.[23][27][2] Kaliveedu secured 18% votes in an online poll conducted by ETimes nominating the best Malayalam TV show of 2022.[28]
Critical response
Reviewing the first episode of the show for The Times of India, Radhika Nair thought the show had an "Interesting storyline but lacked lustre". She further wrote: "the show lacks an X-factor to leave the telly audiences wanting for more".[5]
