Ammayariyathe

Ammayariyathe (transl. Without the knowledge of mother) is an Indian television crime drama thriller series written by Pradeep Panicker and directed by Praveen Kadakkavoor. The show premiered on 22 June 2020, and airs on Malayalam General Entertainment Channel Asianet, and is also available on the digital platform Disney+Hotstar.^[1] It airs at 07:30 PM on Asianet and is also available on Disney+Hotstar.^[2] Ammayariyathe portrays the story of a mother and daughter separated by unfortunate circumstances.^[3]

Plot[]

Sulekha is a kind woman who lives happily with her daughter Neeraja and politician husband, Bhaskar. However, their world crumbles when three youngsters from Bhaskar's rival party murder him and molest Neeraja, leaving her comatose. A crestfallen Sulekha joins politics and becomes the mayor. Neeraja recovers after a year and forgets everything that happened in her past. Sulekha decides to hide the truth for her good. Unknown to Neeraja, she had given birth to a girl child while in a coma. Sulekha had given the baby to a drunkard who abandons her. However, she is found by a righteous lawyer Peter Thakaran who raises her.

Neeraja marries a kind man named Mahadevan, who knows about her past. They have a child named Aparna. Meanwhile, Aleena Peter is a cunning, intelligent and bold woman. She is a budding novelist and a lecturer in the college where Aparna studies. Aparna and Aleena get closer, unaware that they are sisters. Aleena also develops a bond with Neeraja, unaware that she is her mother.

However, Aleena starts to create problems in Neeraja's family including, breaking Aparna's marriage. Soon, Neeraja and Aparna get to know of this and turn against Aleena. Sulekha realises that Aleena is her granddaughter and reveals the truth about Neeraja to Aleena. Meanwhile, a vengeful Aparna attempts to poison Aleena, but she survives. Aleena vows to revenge her mother's perpetrators.

Soon, Aparna and Mahadevan get to know Aleena and develop a soft corner for her. Aleena reveals what happened to her mother (By portraying Neeraja as another woman that she will never know) to Neeraja. Neeraja feels sympathetic to Aleena and treats her like her own daughter. Meanwhile, Aleena gets to know about two of the perpetrators, Vinayachandran "Vinayan", a popular film actor and Murthy, a wealthy businessman.

Aleena is saved by a man named Ambadi, the son of a major from being kidnapped. Ambadi allies with Aleena to avenge Neeraja's perpetrators. Soon, Ambadi falls for Aleena. Aleena considers Ambadi as a good friend but soon reciprocates his feelings. A shocked Ambadi learns that the third person who molested Neeraja is his uncle, Sachidanandan "Sachi", a politician and Sulekha's rival. He confronts Sachi, angered. Sachi sends goons to kill his party member Rajeev and falsely accuses Ambadi. Ambadi is arrested, but Aleena proves his innocence in court. This makes Draupadi, Ambadi's mother, support the Aleena-Ambadi alliance. Later, Mahadevan narrates Neeraja's story to Draupadi. Shocked, Draupadi ousts Sachi. An angered Sachi decides to kill his whole family, including Draupadi. Meanwhile, Aparna's senior Vineeth falls for her and wants to marry her. However, Aparna's marriage gets fixed with Giridhar "Giri", a businessman. However, it is revealed that Giri is a goon sent by Sachi to kill Aparna as revenge against Aleena. However, Aleena and Ambadi are suspicious of Giri and plot to save Aparna. Sachi plans to kill Mahadevan during the marriage. Giri attempts to shoot Mahadevan but fails, and Giri dies in the process.

The family is tense about Aparna's wedding. Ambadi and Aleena come up with an idea to get Aparna married to Vineet as it was his wish. The family agrees except Aparna, but the couple gets married. It is revealed that Giri's real name was Narendra and was a wanted criminal. Aparna and Vineeth fail to lead a peaceful married life.

Meanwhile, Vinayan dies mysteriously. The police interrogate Vinayan's wife, Nanditha and his son, Aakash. Aakash blames Aleena for Vinayan's death. Meanwhile, Narendra's twin brother Jitendra is introduced. He plants a bomb in Neeraja's car. Neeraja's car explodes and she is presumed dead. Later, Neeraja returns to the house safe and unharmed, much to everyone's shock. It turns out that it was not Neeraja but Sulekha who died in the crash.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

• Sreethu Krishnan as Aleena Peter : Main Female Protagonist
  • Biological daughter of Neeraja Mahadevan, Foster daughter of Peter Tharakan, Ambadi's love interest; a College Lecturer, Advocate, Novelist and Newspaper Columnist
• Nikhil Nair (Episodes 97–219; 266-present) as Ambadi Arjunan : Main Male Protagonist
  • Aleena's love interest, son of Major Arjunan and Draupadi, Sachidanandan's nephew; An aspiring IPS officer and social worker
• Keerthi Gopinath as Neeraja Mahadevan : 2nd Female Protagonist
  • Famous Novelist and Writer, Aleena and Aparna's mother, Sulekha and Bhaskaran's daughter, Mahadevan's wife and Vineeth's mother-in-law
• Boban Alummoodan as Mahadevan : 2nd Male Protagonist
  • Businessman, Neeraja's husband, Aparna's father, Sulekha's son-in-law, Aleena's stepfather and Vineeth's father-in-law
• Parvathy P Nair as Aparna Mahadeven / Aparna Vineeth: Parallel Female Lead
  • Daughter of Neeraja and Mahadevan, Aleena's halfsister and student, Akash and Giridhar's ex-fiancé and Vineeth's wife
• Sajin John as Vineeth: Parallel Male lead
  • Aparna's husband and her senior in college, son of Subhadra, Neeraja's and Mahadevan's son-in-law, Aleena's step brother-in-law and her student.
• Dileep Sankar as Peter Tharakan
  • Aleena's foster father and a well-known High Court Advocate.
• Subhash Nair as Kulathoorpuzha Sachidanandan/ Sachi/ Thamburan/ KS : Main Male Antagonist
  • Well established politician, Ambadi's maternal uncle, Draupadi's brother, Vinayan and Moorthi's best friend
• Yehia Khader as Moorthy Chandrashekhar : parallel Male Antagonist
  • Vinayan and Sachi's best friend, Indo-American Businessman, Jithesh's father and Rajini's husband

Recurring cast[]

• Bindhu Aneesh as Rajini Moorthy
  • Chairperson of Kerala Women's empowerment department., Wife of Moorthy and mother of Jithesh.
• Poornima Anand as Draupadi Arjunan
  • Ambadi's mother, Sachidanandan's sister, wife of Major Arjunan.
• Shobi Thilakan as DYSP Dominic Thomas
  • a truthful Police officer
• Thomas Kuriakose as SP Joseph IPS
  • Mayor Sulekha's acquaintance.
• Shylaja Sreedharan Nair as Subhadra
  • Vineeth's mother and Aparna's Mother-in-law
• Asish Kannan Unni as Joe
  • Vineeth's best Friend and Aleena's student
• Vinayak as Jithesh Moorthy
  • Son of Moorthy and Rajini, Aleena's student, Aparna's classmate
• Gopan as Shankarankutty also called 'Shankaramama'
  • Caretaker of Aavanissery family (Ambadi's family)
• Sarath Swamy as Giridhar/Narendran ( Dead) (EP:238-283) and Jithendran (340 - present)
  • Narendran's twin brother, a goon who seeks revenge for his brother's death and he is appointed by Sachi for to destroy Neeraja's family
• Vaishnavi Saikumar as Dr. Reena
  • SP Joseph's Daughter
• Salmanul Faris as Akash Menon
  • Young film actor
  • Nanditha and Vinayan's son
• Shilpa Martin as Samudra Sachidanandan
  • Sachidanandan and Chitra's daughter, Ambadi's cousin
• Ambili as Chitra Sachidanandan
  • Sachi's wife, Samudra's mother and Ambadi's Aunt
• T.S Raju as Mamachan Keralabhoomi also called 'MK'
  • Chief editor of Keralabhoomi magazine
• Diseema Divakaran as Nanditha Vinay Menon
  • Vinayan's wife and Akash's mother
• Pradeep Prabhakhar as Pankunni / P Unni
  • Vineeth's Uncle
• Baby Lakshya as Lalymol
  • Reena's Daughter and SP Joseph's Granddaughter
• Sujitha Stany as Anupama / Anu
  • IPS Officer and Ambadi's Classmate
• Shana Jessan as Shany
  • Anupama's Friend and IPS Officer
• Daveed John as Tony
  • Ambadi's best friend.
• Aby Thomas as Muthumaran / Maaran
  • Ambadi's Colleague in Training Camp

Earlier cast[]

• Reena as Sulekha Bhaskaran
  • Ex-mayor, Neeraja's mother, Wife of Bhaskaran, Mahadevan's mother-in-law, Aleena and Aparna's grandmother (dead)
• Roy Varghese (Ep: 200–310) as Vinayachandran Menon (dead)
  • A famous film actor, Nanditha's husband, Akash's father, Moorthy's and Sachi's best friend
• Amritha Manoj as younger Neeraja (Special Appearance)
• Joemon Joshy as Ramakanthan Rareeram
  • an unknown novelist
• Faisal K as Kallada Jayachandran
  • Politician and Sachi's Party Secretary
• Jayakrishnan Narayanan as Thampi
• Thirumala Ramachandran as Lal
  • Akash's personal assistant
• Arya Sreeram as Teena
  • Mamachan's assistant and distant relative of Peter Tharakan
• Cherthala Lalitha as Mamachan's wife

Former cast[]

• Anand Bharati (Ep:1–220) as Vinayachandran Menon
• Vishnu Unnikrishnan (Ep:235–265) as Ambadi Arjunan (Temporary role)
• Priya Varma / Divya M. Nair as Nanditha Vinay Menon

Guest appearances[]

• Asha Sarath as herself (episodes 1–3)
• Meera Vasudevan as Sumithra (in promotional teaser)
• Gowri Prakash as Anumol (in promotional teaser)

Production[]

The series was supposed to premiere on 30 March 2020. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, production and shooting were stalled on 23 March 2020 and Malayalam television shoots were only permitted in June 2020. This caused the premiere to be postponed until 22 June 2020. In the beginning, it aired at 7:30 pm IST, however later it was shifted to 8:00 pm IST before once again getting shifted back to 7:30 pm IST.

Casting

This show marks the comeback, after 20 years, of actress Keerthi Gopinath, south Indian actor Anand, and his wife Poornima Anand to Malayalam television. Tamil actress Sreethu Nair, Telugu actor Nikhil Nair make their Malayalam debut in the lead roles .The show also features famous TV-film actors Boban Alummoodan, T.S.Raju, Reena, and actress Parvathy (child actor - Paarijatham) in prominent roles . Salmanul Faris, Yehia Khader, Dileep Shankar and Bindhu Aneesh etc. also appears in this series.

Adaptations[]

References[]