Overtly, Kirtima from Killer Soup is the other woman. She’s meant to be the antagonist in some ways, especially in Swathi’s eyes. However, she’s just a girl trying to make it in this cruel world, you know? Kirtima has all the qualities that are considered admirable in a woman. She’s intelligent, ambitious, good with numbers, knows how to cook (not going to lie though, the tarts didn’t look very appetizing), she’s got the looks, of course, and she’s got a hidden talent! Kalaripayattu. Okay, well, it’s not really a hidden talent; everyone knows she performs it; I just felt like gift-wrapping it. I suppose since Swathi has Umesh, Kirtima might’ve been the right match for Prabhu. While Swathi brought out the worst in the man—those burps were so annoying!—Kirtima brought out a more caring side of him. I might be going off on a tangent, and of course, it’s just an affair and whatnot, but it seemed like Prabhu might’ve actually had feelings for Kirtima. Plus, he was mostly honest with her (maybe because she worked for him) because she knew everything about the company and how broke the dude was, and this obviously didn’t stop her from loving him (uff women in man-writing).
Kirtima’s story is purely about love and, I suppose, some violence, but we’ll come to that in a bit. She doesn’t ever hate Swathi; in fact, we can imagine there’s a bit of admiration in the way she looks at her. For one, she is technically the wife of the guy she’s in love with, so some definite qualities are admirable. And Swathi is an ambitious woman who can command a room, whereas Kirtima is more submissive and almost doormat-like. Interestingly, in stature, they’re the opposite, though. Swathi is tiny with a gigantic personality, and Kirtima is much larger and more confident in appearance but meek in personality. Kirtima is keen on keeping Prabhu’s company afloat, and she will go to almost any length to do that. This is when you really see how much she likes him, which is a shame because the man doesn’t deserve either of the women.
Although Kirtima is innocent, it is Swathi who taints her later on in the show. It is Swathi who brings up the idea of blackmail in front of Kirtima, and since she has something to fight for, she uses it to her advantage. Kirtima knows there’s something fishy going on with Prabhu ever since the acid attack and later even calls him out for being a completely different man. Umesh, of course, defends himself, claiming that he’s been traumatized, so it’s going to take him some time to get back to his old self. Kirtima feels a newfound love for Prabhu when she sees him in the hospital bed, remembering all the good times they had together. I suppose this is when she realizes she wants to have him for herself. With the promise of a divorce, Kirtima is certain that she can get what she wants, but boy, is she up for a surprise.
You see, if it were Prabhu, maybe he would’ve picked Kirtima after a crisis, but most likely he wouldn’t have, because it would’ve been a red spot on his pristine white shirt, despite the fact that nothing he ever did was worthy of said white shirt. Kirtima was only a hobby for him. But the poor girl never realizes this, and when the nicer, more innocent Umesh replaces Prabhu, he doesn’t know how to say no to her and quickly reminds us all that he’s just another man. I suppose watching her bring out her Kalaripayattu moves may have been very impressive, but really? Anyway, when Kirtima witnesses what transpires between Appu and her father, she realizes it’s the perfect opportunity for her to get revenge. She’s very clever, of course, because she gets it all on camera immediately to use it against Swathi.
Swathi thinks it’s going to be easy to get rid of Kirthima because she has Lucas on her side, given that’s Appu’s real problem. If the video was shown to anybody, the entire family would face consequences, so Swathi must do anything she can to save her family. Kirtima calmly tells Swathi that what she wants is Prabhu, so she can keep her restaurant and all the money in the world, but she must divorce her husband. A woman can’t simply be successful in all aspects, can she? This is when Lucas comes out of nowhere and tries to strangle Kirtima to death. Now’s when we get the real big surprise: Kirtima is strong enough to fight Lucas and bring him to the ground.
Kirtima’s Kalari moves come in handy when she has to defend her own life, and she does a fantastic job until she accidentally falls and breaks her neck (you were doing so well, sweetie). Another win for Swathi; however, this one was a tough pill to swallow. Kirtima finally really stood up for herself and even showed her fierce side, telling Swathi that she knew how to defend herself. This is a real shame because Kirtima was the only person who could put up a proper fight against Swathi. Eventually, Lucas stages Kirtima’s death, making it appear like a suicide, and Swathi gets him to make her appear to be Manisha Koirala, the woman that Umesh was secretly seeing. Kirtima becomes the missing puzzle piece to fix Swathi’s fake story and keep her safely away from the police station.
It’s really quite sad because, in another world, Kirtima and Swathi could’ve become friends, and Swathi could’ve had her as the dessert chef at her restaurant or something. That’s an idealistic dream, though. I suppose Kirtima’s death isn’t in vain, because it leads to Umesh realizing that the Swathi he once knew has changed and also helps Hassan connect the remaining dots to catch Swathi red-handed. RIP, Kirtima; you were very cool.
