Santhwanam () is an Indian Malayalam-language soap opera. The first season directed by Adithyan aired from 21 September 2020 to 27 January 2024 on Asianet and airs on-demand through Disney+ Hotstar. It is an official remake of the Tamil soap opera Pandian Stores and the climax of the season is inspired from 1993 Malayalam film Vatsalyam. It stars Rajeev Parameshwar, Chippy Renjith, Girish Nambiar, Raksha Raj, Sajin TP, Gopika Anil, Achu Sugandh. The second season of the show, Santhwanam 2 directed by Anzar Khan which is a remake of Pandian Stores 2 premiered on 17 June 2024. It is a standalone sequel of Santhwanam. It stars Krishnakumar Menon, Lavanya Nair, Roslin (later replaced by Devi Menon) in lead roles. It is one of the longest running Malayalam soap opera.
Krishnan's four sons (Balakrishnan, Harikrishnan, Shivaramakrishnan aka Shivan, and Kannan) run Krishna Stores, a famous grocery store in their hometown Ambalathara.
Balakrishnan is married to Sreedevi, who leads the Krishna stores with him and looks after Lakshmi, Balan's paralyzed mother. Sreedevi raises her brothers-in-law as her sons.
Hari gets engaged to Anjali, who loved Hari since they were children. However, Hari was in love with his college mate Aparna. So, Anjali marries Shivan, while Aparna marries Hari.(Kannan), during this point in time Lakshmi feels disappointed that Hari married Aparna so she doesn't give blessings to Hari and Aparna except to Anjali and Shiva. Savithri and Jayanthi insult Sreedevi and humiliate her. Aparna is not used to the Santhwanam house's interior. The plot centers on Devi and how she brings the joint family back together after the arrival of the new in-laws, Anjali and Aparna. And then it is revealed that Kannan like Aishwarya
Hari and Aparna are blessed with a baby girl. Shivan opens a tea stall, which is closed by Thambi. Kannan goes to Chennai to study. Meanwhile, Lakshmi Amma passes away. During these days the family passes through a series of financial crises due to Anjali and Sivan's previous furniture business and Krishna Stores' burn. But after some days Susan visited the family and handed over a Thirty lakh cheque to Anjali as she got as a balance amount from her client. The family cleared all their financial issues and lived peacefully.
The story leaps five years, Hari and Aparna started an advertising agency. But it got stopped due to their inefficiency in business. Hari moved back to Krishna Stores. Shivan's Ootupura has turned into a local sensation, winning the hearts and palates of natives and Anjali is handling the catering section of their venture. A few days later, the family learns that Anjali was pregnant. One day Kannan returns to the house but behaves differently. Kannan plans to start a new company in Chennai with his friends for which he needs at least 15 lakhs. He requests Balan to give the money as the house is in his name. Learning that the family may be divided after partition, Appu tries to separate Devu from Devi. Late, Balan promises that they will not interfere in any matters of Devu this cooling Appu. Devi and Balan are heartbroken in the absence of Devu. Balan made arrangements for the partition of the family so that Kannan would let his money. Balan and Devi leave the house after writing a letter to family members. The family mourns after learning about their disappearance. Later, Kurup informs the family that Balan and Devi purposefully avoided children for taking care of their siblings. This made everybody heartbroken.
Three years later, Kannan in regret decides to leave his business plans and runs Krishna's Stores. Anjali gives birth to a male child, Balakrishnan (Balu Kuttan). Hari is working as a regional manager in an advertising company. Aparna is also working in an IT company remotely. Devootty is grown up. Shivan's friend, Rahul informs him that he saw Balan and Devi at Suchindram temple. Hari, Shivan, and Kannan find Devi and Balan. They are running a shop of flowers and Pooja materials near the temple. They both have a girl child, Lakshmi. The brothers insist Balan and Devi accompany them to Santhwanam which Balan denies. Later, Devi promises them that they will visit Santhwanam during Onam. The brothers further tell them that they will visit them again with Appu and Anju. The season ends with teary-eyed Balan and Devi bidding goodbye to the brothers.
The second season of the show is a standalone story and has no connection to the events or characters of the first season.
The season delves into the intense rivalry between two families, Krishnamangalam and Devamangalam, highlighting the strength of family ties and the complexities of interpersonal relationships. The drama begins to unfold when Balan, an orphan adopted by the Krishnamangalam household, marries the youngest daughter, Gomathi. This causes the two families became enemies. 28 years later, Balan has become a well-known figure in society, the proud owner of Gomathi Stores, and the strict head of the Devamangalam family. His life revolves around his perfect family and the thriving business he has built. Balan's elder son Anand, is not married due to a love failure. His second son, Akash was in love with Meenakshi and he married her without their parents' knowledge. Even though Balan and Gomathi didn't accept her initially, they slowly began liking each other. Their youngest son, Aryan is studying in college. After some days, Gomathi, Aryan and Meenakshi visited Guruvayoor temple to pray for Anand's marriage. In the same time, Mithra, Gomathi's nephew eloped from Devamangalam with jewels to marry her lover Midhun, who is a fraudster. They stayed in the same hotel where Gomathi is also staying. Midhun cheated Mithra and ran way with her ornaments. On knowing this incident Gomathi decided Aryan to get married with Mithra so as to secure her life. Both of them married and they told to Balan that Mithra was in love with Aryan.
The series is produced by Chippy Renjith after success of their previous venture Vanambadi. In 2021, the second wave of COVID-19 resulted in the show pausing production for about 2 months. The director of the show, Adithyan died on 19 October 2023 due to heart attack.
The teaser of the second season was released on 3 May 2024. After that several audience enquired whether it is sequel to the first season. But it is clarified by Gopika Anil who played lead role in the first season that the new season will follow a new story with new characters.
In April 2025, actor Rajeev Parameshwar revealed that Chippy Renjith, who acted in and produced the first season of Santhwanam, and her husband Renjith, who co-produced the show, opted out of Santhwanam 2 due to their commitments to the film Thudarum and the JioHotstar web series Love Under Construction. Chippy informed the original cast that the second season would feature a completely new storyline, that she would not be part of it, and that they were free to join if interested. However, since it wasnâÂÂt a continuation, the entire original cast chose not to return. Consequently, a different production house took over the show with an entirely new cast.
The first season of the show was one of the top rated shows in Malayalam. It is well known for romantic performance of the lead pair known as "Shivanjali" played by Sajin and Gopika Anil.
In the launch week, the season secured sixth position in TRP ratings. As of September 2024, the show got fourth position. As of November 2024 the show got fifth position.From 2025 January the show got sixth position.