Sweet Karam Coffee: Portrayal Of Female Bonding Beyond Generations

Travel, especially road trips, is one of the most beautiful ways to heal, discover yourself, and rejuvenate. Done alone or with your girl gang, it can truly be the most transformative journey one can have in life.

The mini-web series Sweet Karam Coffee streaming on Amazon Prime is a heartwarming family drama featuring three women of different generations from the same family venturing on a road trip to escape the social pressure and expectations imposed on women.

Sweet Karam Coffee Web Series

Sundari (Lakshmi), a widowed woman, stays with her son, who is excessively caring towards her to the extent that she feels controlled, ultimately that awakens the feminist in her. Kaveri (Madhoo) is a middle-aged woman, Sundari’s daughter-in-law. Her existence is limited to caring for the family and household chores. She is a typical Indian housewife who puts everyone’s needs first and has succumbed to the social expectations of women, forgoing her freedom and passion for music. Niveditha (Santhy) is a modern young woman pursuing a career in cricket but has a dilemma of choosing between love and career.

Frustrated with their lives, the three women decide to go on a vacation, but the men of the family, Sundari’s son Rajarathinam and grandson Bala aren’t interested in going on a family trip. So, the women suggest that they go on a girl’s trip, only to get mocked by the men. Sundari is considered too old, Kaveri irresponsible, and Niveditha too young. Basically, they are restricted from embarking on a trip simply because women are deemed unfit to take care of themselves. Ironically, the men struggle to fend for themselves after the women leave for the trip. 

Regardless, the women decide to defy the norms and set out on a road trip. What begins as a spontaneous trip to escape reality soon transforms into a journey of self-discovery and helps develop a beautiful bond between them.

Throughout the trip, the women talk a lot, get to know the hidden sides of each other, and develop a strong bond. Seeing that made me realise something. Why should it take a road trip to bond women, even those living under the same roof? Why don’t we women take the time to develop a solid relationship with each other amidst our daily lives? 

Female Bonding Beyond Generations

There’s one refreshing scene in the series where Sundari tells her son that her daughter-in-law isn’t his servant. Why does it take decades for many mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law to realise that they’re being conditioned by the same social expectations? Why don't mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law have a cordial relationship right from the beginning? Why don't women realise that their sisterhood will help smash the patriarchy?

Kaveri is a typical mother who voluntarily shows abundant affection to her emotionally unavailable son but is rather controlling towards her daughter. While she does feel bad that her daughter doesn’t bond with her, she too doesn’t seem to make any genuine effort to be her daughter’s friend. During the trip, the mother-daughter duo talks about everything from relationships to careers and realise they are similar.

Mothers often tend to be authoritative and critical towards their daughters due to social conditioning that expects them to raise ideal wives and daughters-in-law. In a beautiful conversation between Kaveri and Niveditha, Kaveri assures her daughter that she is exactly like her younger self but a much better and wiser version. Wouldn’t it have been better if they had been expressive much earlier?

So, instead of letting an external factor push us women to take the plunge, why don’t we make it a priority to bond with other women? Even though road trips are always an excellent idea, how about uninterrupted coffee time every day? Regular dinner dates? Working out together? Little somethings at regular intervals for ourselves? All it takes are open, honest conversations to realise that we aren’t really different from each other and embrace the essence of sisterhood amongst us.

Views expressed by the author are their own

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