The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang (Sambhava Vivaranam Nalara Sangham) is a wild trip that takes one through places and characters unimagined. It starts slowly, sucking you into the lives of the ‘4.5’ gang – Arikuttan, Althaf, Kanji, Maniyan, and Moonga. It is the kind of series that makes you want to pick the creator’s brains for the sheer cleverness of it. You get the urge to ask the creator (writer and director) Krishand — “How did you think of this universe?” It is bold for its sheer originality, and refreshingly different from usual crime-based OTT content.
The series is an unhinged (in a positive way), wacky ride. The action takes place in the fictional Thiruvanchipuram. Kamalakumari and Thoni are towns in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. No prizes for guessing which place!
The most important thing about 4.5 Gang that stays with you even after you wrap up the six-episode gangster comedy is the writer’s craft. The series employs several narrative techniques, which, in the hands of an ordinary creator, might have lost cohesion. In 4.5 Gang, everything random and bizarre ties in organically with the proceedings. At first, it might seem like there are way too many characters to keep track of, but Krishand’s felicity makes remembering their place in the narrative easy. All the seemingly disconnected events come together neatly in the climax.
A disclaimer: 4.5 Gang takes its time reeling you into the narrative. It is a slow-burn version of comedy, which takes getting used to and ‘making sense’. But once you are hooked, there is no going back. Also, you cannot watch by playing it in the background, as each episode and scene is packed with details and tidbits. It is literally, you blink and you miss.
When Arikuttan (Sanju Sivaram), reformed/reforming gangster-on-the-run, lands up at the house of Biographer Maithreyan in faraway Maharashtra, travelling by water, one can’t help but wonder what the story is about. He is there with his friend, collaborator, and former gang-mate Althaf (Niranj Maniyan Pillai). We learn that Arikuttan wants Maithreyan to write his ‘biography’ as a way to possibly ‘legitimise’ him and his friends. From 2018, the narrative travels back to the late 1990s, when the boys are in school. They are fans of Superstar Vikram and make their debut in the criminal world. We go back and forth with the story.
Sambhava Vivaranam Nalara Sangham (Malayalam)
Director: Krishand
Run time: Six episodes, 47-72 minutes
Cast: Jagadish, Indrans, Darshana Rajendran, Sanju Sivaram, Prashanth Alexander
Story: The life and times of five members of a gang and everyone they encounter.
We, like Maithreyan, are listeners as he narrates his life story from the late 1990s, when he grew up in what is considered the ‘wrong side of town’ – Thadipalam. The five have been friends since forever, studying in the same school, getting into trouble together, dropping out of school, and committing their first crime. Maithreyan christens them the 4.5 Gang, because Moonga is a little person.
It has the significant elements of a gangster comedy — dark humour, the ‘jokes’ popping up in the most incongruous situations, intertwined plots, witty dialogues delivered by complex characters, and the violence which is mind-bogglingly simply “administered”.
Writers know being funny is not easy, but Krishand makes it look effortless. As stand-up comics say, the jokes land and how! For instance, when Clerk Balachandran (Indrans) and his son, Arikuttan, meet in prison, they talk about how life is good in prison with weekly meals of meat. He tells his father, “It would be nice to have Amma over also!” It’s hilarious when Arikuttan tells his father that he became a criminal because his father is one. “Some would call it nepotism!” he says. It is humour with a generous side of irony.
How Krishand nimbly weaves all the threads of the multiple plots makes one realise how we don’t get to see such intelligent storytelling that engages the viewer, forcing them to participate. The plot is packed with literary devices, cross-references, and social commentary. Fact becomes fiction and vice versa. Maithreyan is the conscience and the instigator to stick to the facts or not. To pep up the action or tweak the narrative for the sake of the story, he is the chorus, who also sometimes becomes part of the action.
As we watch the 4.5 Gangbumble their way through a life of crime — starting off as petty criminals egged on by SI Suresh, the local cop, and then moving on to gold hawala, stealing milk, and finally, unwittingly, of course, engineering the murder that unravels their lives. The 4.5 Gang’s world is marked by chaos and madness, and there is no place for half measures. It is all or nothing.
One cannot imagine 4.5 Gang without Jagdish as Biographer Maithreyan, Prashanth Alexander as Bruce Lee, Indrans as Clerk Balachandran, Vishnu Agasthya as Pylekuttan, and Hakkim Shahjahan as Pookada Valsan. Sreenath Babu (Kanji), Shambhu (Maniyan), and Sachin Joseph (Moonga) make up the rest of the gang, apart from Sanju and Niranj. Full marks to the cast for a brilliant job.
However, the female characters are underwhelming. With powerhouses of talent such as Darshana Rajendran, Santhy Balachandran, and Zarin Shihab, one expects strong female-centric characters. However, they are archetypes of women – one (Zarin) is all suffering, the other (Santhy) is not, and the third is an avenging angel (Darshana). That said, Darshana’s Remani is scary; her silence and stare hold the promise of tremendous cruelty.
A word about the music, which also becomes a character in the narrative! The score by Varkey and Sooraj Santhosh complements the narrative, setting a high bar for music in the Malayalam web series space.
Postscript and twist in the tale: The biography is published, a film is made on it, and it is none other than Vikram who essays Arikuttan. Now, who is superstar Vikram? Go watch the series.
Sambhava Vivaranam Nalara Sangham is streaming on SonyLiv
Published – August 30, 2025 05:30 pm IST
