General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Kallachirippu

Kallachirippu (கல்லச்சிரிப்பு; translated as Fake Smile) is an Indian Tamil-language thriller drama web series released in 2018 on the streaming platform ZEE5. Produced by filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj through his Stone Bench Creations banner and written and directed by Rohit Nandakumar, the eight-episode series follows a young woman who, after being forced into an arranged marriage, accidentally kills her husband and turns to her boyfriend to help dispose of the body.¹^•²^•³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Format	Tamil-language web series, 1 season of 8 episodes, produced for ZEE5¹
Release	22 July 2018 on ZEE5 (other listings give 18, 21, or 23 July 2018)¹^•⁵^•⁶^•⁴
Creator	Written and directed by Rohit Nandakumar (credited as Roju); produced by Karthik Subbaraj³^•²
Lead cast	Amrutha Srinivasan as Mahati, Vikas Muppala as Ram, Rohit Nandakumar as Indrajith³
Episode length	Roughly 12 to 25 minutes per episode; JustWatch lists an 18-minute runtime⁷^•⁸
Rating	7.3/10 on IMDb (177 votes); age rating A (adults)⁸
Status	Canceled/Ended after one season; no second season announced⁵

Spoilers

Premise

The series follows 24-year-old Mahati (Amrutha Srinivasan), an aspiring lawyer who dreams of studying abroad but is forced into an arranged marriage by her father. Within minutes of the first episode, she stabs her new husband Ram (Vikas) to death in self-defense during a heated argument, wipes her blood-spattered face, and calls her boyfriend Indrajith (Rohit Nandakumar) to clean up the mess. The resulting chain of events, including hiding the body from visiting parents and a police investigation, reveals the true nature of every character involved in the marriage.⁸^•⁹^•¹

The eight episodes carry English titles playing on the smile motif: The Dead Jester, King of Smiles, Mr. Lipstick, Snicker Me Not, Smile! Or I'll Shoot!, Dimple Kapadia, Laughing Stock, and Smile Please.¹

Production

Nandakumar had written and acted in one of the six short stories in the Tamil anthology film Aviyal (2016), produced by Subbaraj's Stone Bench Creations. Subbaraj approached him for a web series soon after that film's release and later offered to convert the idea into a feature film, but Nandakumar preferred the episodic web format, conceiving it as a mini series of about 2.5 hours in total.⁴^•¹⁰

He chose a non-linear narrative structure, moving forward and backward across the timeline and juxtaposing events around a common element. He said the technique gave him leeway to convey his politics organically, and he cited influences ranging from Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity to the Tamil filmmaker K. Balachander.⁴^•¹¹

Themes and intent

Nandakumar said the show was designed to turn the typical portrayal of women in Tamil cinema on its head: "I wanted the woman to be very cold and a hard pill to swallow for the audience." He additionally sought to depart from how Tamil films have offensively depicted homosexual relationships, typically treating them as nothing more than jokes, and accordingly made a gay relationship part of the plot.⁴

Critics identified the series' central concerns as love, lust, and toxicity. The Times of India noted that love is painted through a relationship between two men while lust is portrayed between Mahati and her paramour, and that the character treated with the most anger is Mahati's father, described as a textbook chauvinist. The Indian Express listed the topics the series engages with as sex, porn, patriarchy, extramarital affairs, homosexuality, abortion, unhappy marriages, and love.⁹^•¹¹

Reception

The series drew largely positive reviews. The NewsMinute called it an intriguing thriller with characters new to Tamil content, praising Amrutha Srinivasan's performance as Mahati while noting the show's dark tone, liberal profanity, and mature-audience content.¹² The Indian Express called it a kickass entertainer and highlighted its well-written conversations, particularly between Mahati and her mother.¹¹ The Times of India gave the season a critic's rating of 3.0 out of 5, praising Srinivasan as brilliant in the role while observing that the murder-mystery storyline peters out toward the end.⁹ On IMDb the series holds a 7.3 rating from 177 votes.⁸

Availability

Kallachirippu streams on ZEE5, where it is a ZEE5 Tamil Original, and has also been available through VI movies and tv and bundled services such as Airtel Xstream Play via ZEE5. It is a paid title requiring a subscription, with subtitles in one or more languages depending on the platform.⁸^•¹³^•⁵ The show was translated into Hindi and Marathi.¹²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?