Season 1

The sitcom revolves around the family of Balu; a self-employed electronics technician, his wife Neelu, who works as an accountant in a private firm, and their five children: Vishnu who's called "Mudiyan" by his family's due to his hair, Lakshmi "Lechu", Keshav "Keshu", Shivani "Shiva" and Parvathi "Parrukutty". The family is usually referred to as Paramada Veedu.

Vishnu is a new-generation, lively dancer. Earlier he was often teased by his siblings for failing in his BSc examinations. He is Neelu's eldest and favorite son. He has a dance troupe. His hairstyle makes him a popular character. He even took care of his baby sister when no one was at home. In episode 803, he passed his BSc, which made the family happy, and thanks to Meenu his friend, Vishnu got a job at an advertisement company with an income. He lost the job and later joined in a private bank.

Lechu is the lazy, beauty-conscious eldest daughter of the family. She often teases her younger siblings. She loves writing poems and singing. She is always seen chatting with her friends. Later she joined for B.Com. She married Sidharth in episode 1011 and was last seen in season 1 during the 1013th episode (This was due to Juhi Rustagi leaving the show).

Keshu and Shiva are the school-going kids of the house. Keshu is a foodie while Shiva doesn't enjoy eating. Both are naughty but they share an unbreakable bond with each other. They make naughty plans together and Lechu always gets threatened by them. All of them love each other even though they keep fighting all day.

They are eventually joined by Parrukutty, the baby of the family. She is an adorable baby who has won the hearts of her family members. She was born in episode 604.

They are occasionally visited by Balu's brother Surendran Thambi, his parents Madhavan Thambi and Sharada, his aunt, his cousin Rema, Rema's husband Jayanthan, Rema's father (Balu's relative) Shankaran Thambi, Neelu's parents Kuttan Pillai and Bhavani Amma. Their neighbors Bhasi, Nawas, Shukoor, newspaper boy Kannan, auto-rickshaw driver Chandran, Chandran's wife Kanakam (who is the daughter of Balu's distant relative) also make appearances. Neelima's brother Sreekkuttan (played by S. P. Sreekumar) also made appearances during the early episodes of the show. Vishnu's friends Jerry, Meenakshi, and Jennah along with Lechu's friend Gayathri also make certain appearances.

They visit Paramada Veedu and sometimes stay there. Some episodes are even taking place at their places called Shoolamkudi house at Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram and Padavalam Veedu at Piravom in Ernakulam. This too highlights Trivandrum vs Kochi in a comic manner as it is seen in common disputes between Balu and Neelu

Balu's brother Surendran who runs a grocery shop in Neyyattinkara is a soft person and Balu often ridicules him.

Shankaran (Shankara Annan)is a drunkard who is loved by everyone in the family. His daughter Rema is Balu's cousin and is married to Jayanthan who is a jobless politician. Both of them have silly fights which are often resolved by Balu and Neelu.

In episode number 368, the character of Autodriver Chandran was introduced. He later becomes a close friend of the Paramada family. Eventually, in episode 850, he marries Kanakam, a distant relative of Balu who hails from Tamil Nadu.

In episode 1164, the character Sreeraj who has been mentioned since the beginning of the show was introduced. Sreeraj is the eldest brother of Neelu who is settled in Chennai with his family.

Season 2

In season 2, it was revealed that Balu is no more working as a full-time electrician. Instead, he is now working as supervisor in a construction firm. Neelu is now promoted as the manager of the private firm. Lechu came back in season 2 and it was revealed that Lechu's husband now works abroad so that she can stay with her parents. Shiva and Keshu have further grown up with Keshu started taking private tuition for students. Paru has started going to nursery for her primary education.

During the 180th episode in season 2, a major development occurred in the plot involving Vishnu. He eloped with his girlfriend Diya and married her without telling both of their family and brought her home while his family was looking for a marriage alliance. Eventually, Vishnu's father-in-law Ram Kumar (Diya's father), who is a businessman reached Paramada Veedu in search of his daughter. In episode 197, Vishu's mother-in-law Haimavathy "Haima" Ram Kumar (Diya's mother) was introduced. Both Ram and Haima didn't like Vishnu's family and planned many unsuccessful ways to take Diya away from Balu's family. Later, the reason for taking Diya was because in Ram's company had Singhbai and his son, Ranna, who boosted the company to success and Ranna liked Diya since childhood and wanted to see her in Mumbai. After telling this to Balu's family though convinced them with some lies, they permitted Diya to go with her parents to Mumbai. Though Diya believed that it was her parents new idea to take her away from them after she eavesdropped when she went to Ram's house. But luckily, within 3 days they came back but still kept the secret about what happened there though the kids knew she was lying, Diya said other convincing lies which sometimes didn't work. Inspired by Diya's lies, Lechu who once took a break from writing, started to write about a story about an underworld "Balubhai" and uses Diya's lies in her story. Haima then gave an offer to Lechu saying that after writing her story, she can publish it through VH Publications(Valiyaveettil Haimavathy Publications). This made Lechu ecstatic and continued to write her stroy.

The plot then shifts later showing that Haima has a very unusual connection with the house they live in and further it was proven that she was possessed by a ghost who once mysteriously died in the house that they currently resides. Whenever someone says that they need to move from this house to Haima, she gets angry as it is the ghost's reactions, but Haima is not aware to the fact that she is possessed. Even Balu's kids were also the ones who witnessed it in some situations and told to Balu but as he himself checked to see Haima, he found her completely normal. One day, thanks to Paru's idea, Ram decided to record Haima to she show that she is possessed and he once showed it to Haima, however, the video was actually seen by the ghost in her and from a few episodes, Ram unexpectedly went missing for a few days.Though Haima said he went for a business trip, Diya was not convinced and Balu thought that either Haima or the ghost has done something to Ram but in episode 281, Balu saw Ram alive and ram admitted that he really went to a business trip and his phone was damaged. Later on, after showing the video to Haima(although the ghost saw it), it seems that the ghost is gone from her and Haima is now a calm person. Ram and Haima were more relieved when they got the news that Ranna died at a car accident and was sure that He will no longer threaten Diya or her in-law family again.

The rest of the episodes then shows the day-to-day lives of the family and the in-law family. In one episode, it was shown that Ram and Haima decided that Diya would be the director of their business company. Lechu, who gave the story to Haima and their VH Publications team to check and they said that it was not good. Through unsuccessful attempts to write a story, she shifted her literary genre from story and back to poetry. In episode 382, it was seen that Lechu won second prize in the state-level poetry competition as she wrote a poem about how a mother and father is in a household and upon reaching the poem in the hands of Ram and Haima, they decided to give her name through VH Publications, which led to her winning second prize.

Main cast

• Biju Sopanam as Shulamkudi Veetil Balachandran "Balu" Thampi - Neelima's Husband; Vishnu, Lakshmi, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's Father; Madhavan Thampi and Sharada's son; Kuttan Pillai and Bhavani's son-in-law; Surendran's and Rajendran's brother; Sreekuttan and Sreeraj's brother-in-law, Siddarth and Diya's father in law. He hails from Neyyantinkara and currently resides at a rented house in Vazhakkala, Kochi(2015–2021,2022–present)
• Nisha Sarang as Neelima "Neelu" Balachandran Thambi (Neelima Pillai) - Balachandran's Wife; Vishnu, Lakshmi, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's Mother; Kuttan Pillai and Bhavani's daughter; Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's daughter-in-law; Sreekuttan and Sreeraj's sister; Surendran's and Rajendran's sister-in-law. Narayani kuttyamma's granddaughter, Siddarth and Diya's mother in law.(2015–2021,2022–present)
• Rishi S Kumar as Vishnu "Mudiyan" Balachandran Thambi - Balachandran and Neelima's Eldest Child; Diya's husband; Lakshmi, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's Elder Brother; Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's grandson; Surendran, Rajendran, Sreekuttan and Sreeraj's nephew; Ramkumar and Hymavathi's son in law(2015–2021,2022-2023;indefinite hiatus)
• Juhi Rustagi as Lakshmi "Lachu" Lakshmi Balachandran Thambi - Balachandran and Neelima's second child; Vishnu, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's sister; Sidharth's wife; Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's granddaughter; Surendran, Rajendran, Sreekuttan and Sreeraj's niece, Diya's sister in law(2015–2020,2022–present)
• Al Sabith as Keshav "Keshu" Balachandran Thambi - Balachandran and Neelima's Third child; Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shivani and Parvathy's brother; Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's grandson; Diya's brother in law(2015–2021,2022–present)
• Shivani Menon as Shivani "Shiva" Balachandran Thambi - Balachandran and Neelima's Fourth child; Vishnu, Lakshmi, Keshavan and Parvathy's sister; Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's granddaughter; Diya's sister in law(2015–2020,2022–present)
• Baby Ameya as Parvathy "Paru" Balachandran Thambi - Balachandran and Neelima's youngest child; Vishnu, Lakshmi, Keshavan and Shivani's younger sister; Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thambi and Sharada's granddaughter; Diya's sister in law(2018–2021,2022–present)
• Parvathy Ayyapadas as Diya Vishnu Balachandran Thampi - Ram Kumar and Haimavathy's daughter, Vishnu's wife, Balachandran and Neelima's Eldest Daughter-in-law, Lakshmi, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's Sister-in-law, Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thampi and Sharada's Granddaughter-in-law(2023–present)
• Dain Davis as Siddarth(Siddhu) Janardhanan-Janardhanan Pillai and Mini Janardhanan's Son, Lakshmi's husband, Balachandran and Neelima's Eldest Son-in-law, Vishnu, Keshav, Shivani and Parvathy's brother-in-law, Kuttan Pillai, Bhavani, Madhavan Thampi and Sharada's Grandson-in-law(2019)

Recurring

Guest

This is a list of the celebrities who have made guest appearances in the show.

Season 1

Nisha Sarang was offered the role of Neelima when she was doing the cookery show Kuttikkalavara on Flowers.^[8] Except for Sarang, all other principal actors were beginners in television. Theatre actor Biju Sopanam had earlier acted under R. Unnikrishnan's directorial in Back Benchers, a comedy serial on Amrita TV. He was offered the role of Balachandran Thampi. Biju was keen on working with Unnikrishnan ever since he watched his directorial sitcom Marimayam on Mazhavil Manorama, he wanted to do such roles that are close to reality. Uppum Mulakum was his second television appearance and the first leading role.^[9] Unnikrishnan called Rishi S. Kumar for the role of Vishnu after seeing him in the reality TV show D 4 Dance on Mazhavil Manorama, in which he was a contestant. It was Unnikrishnan's son who recommended him.^[10] Al Sabith and Shivani Menon were also picked from reality TV show, they were both contestants on the show Kuttikkalavara on Flowers. Shivani is one month elder than Al Sabith, but it is the other way in the show. Juhi Rustagi was Unnikrishnan's son's friend, they first met on his son's birthday party and few days later she was offered the role of Lachu.^[11]

Biju's real-life brother, Binoj, who is five years younger than him, portrays his brother Surendran Thambi on the show. Biju's real-life daughter Gouri Lakshmi portrays his niece Kanmani, Surendran's daughter.^[12] The show was filmed at a house named Paramada Veedu in Vazhakkala, Kochi.^[13] In July 2018, R. Unnikrishnan was replaced by cinematographer S.J Sinu as the show's director. Later Pradheep Madhav was chosen as the director of the show.

Season 2

During the 1 June 2022 episode of "Flowers Oru Kodi", Nair announced that the second season of Uppum Mulakum is under development and will start broadcast on 13 June 2022.^[20] They also released a teaser of the second season on the channel and social media announcing the same. The show's creator and initial director R. Unnikrishnan was bought back in the director role. Juhi Rustagi, who left the show in January 2020 also made a comeback.^[21] The first episode of the second season was premiered on 13 June 2022 and it became number one trending topic on YouTube.^[22] Rishi Kumar who portrays the character of Mudiyan left the show unexpectedly after an episode where its shown that he is married and the show went snail-paced for the next 4 months with several new characters being introduced including Mudiayan's wife, her father, mother etc. The sitcom went through a cultural change during this period when the makers and the director made a drastic shift in treatment from a sitcom to a horror/thriller genre which looked awkward and forced. This was termed the dark phase of Uppum Mulakum with even the main characters seemed uninterested in the proceedings and with child actors going overboard. Rishi gave an interview in which he revealed the truth about his absence, majorly because of its director R. Unnikrishnan's dictator like methods.

Critical response

Indian express stated; "Uppum Mulakum presents the simple things in daily life without losing its originality. Behind the show's popularity is that the audience can feel that the house and its family members may have been living somewhere else in the real life".^[25]