Anandham

Anandham is a family drama with elements of business rivalry, romance, murders and other intrigues typical of Tamil soaps interwoven into it. However, unlike the stereotypical Tamil tear-jerker, Anandham depicts successful, independent-minded women rather than women battered by husbands and mothers-in-law. The patriarch of the family - Radhakrishnan or RK - is an eminent industrialist whose blissful existence is threatened by a series of events involving his four children. Much of the first part of the serial revolved around two of RK's daughters-in-law. Shanthi, a widow with a child and married to RK's second son, Karthik, is the quintessential do-gooder in the serial but much of her early days were consumed by her struggle for acceptance within the family. Shanthi's tribulations were multiplied by the other daughter-in-law in the family, Abhirami, who had hoped that Karthik would marry her younger sister. (Actress Brinda Das, who plays Abirami, turns in a superb performance as the arch villain). Abhirami had married into the RK family primarily to seek revenge on behalf of her late father, who had led her to believe that he had been wronged by RK in business. Soon, Abhirami began to wreak havoc on the RK family, stripping it of its family home and wealth. The tragedy of losing his family home sent RK into an ashram, where his character began to mellow. Subsequently, he reconciled with Shanthi and later accepted the remarriage of Madhan, who worked up the courage to dissolve his enforced marriage to Abhirami and return to his first love, Rohini. A little more than a year into the serial, Abhirami, increasingly estranged from her more righteous brother and sister, discovered that she was an adopted child. A good part of the serial since that discovery involved Abhirami and her real parents trying to determine the identity of one another. Abhirami's real parents were separated from the time she was a baby. Her mother, Muthulakshmi, had left her father, the shady businessman Shankarapandian, after discovering that he had murdered someone for business gain. Muthulakshmi lost her child while trying to save herself from pursuers sent by her husband and subsequently moved to Malaysia. She has now returned in a new avatar as the business magnate Charulatha. A year on, Abhirami has reunited with her father. But her mother, who has long been yearning to be reunited with her daughter, now steadfastly refuses to accept a devious daughter. In the latest phase of the s