Krong Kam

Krong Kam (Thai : กรงกรรม; lit.'Cage of Karma ') is a 2019 Thai TV drama that originally aired on Channel 3 starting from February 26 to April 30, 2019 for 19 episodes.

The whole story took place at Chum Saeng, Nakhon Sawan, in 1967. Yoi (Mai Charoenpura) is a middle-aged Thai woman who married into a Thai-Chinese family. She vowed to personally see to it that her family of six honour the Beh (Chinese :馬) ancestors. She amassed a fortune in family businesses that consist of a grocery and the grain store, a rice mill that her husband runs, and various farmlands and properties across Nakhon Sawan province. Yoi has a sharp tongue, a quick temper, and is notoriously frugal. She lives with her husband and their four sons. Everyone who knows her, whether in the family, the household, or the town of Chum Saeng, holds her in fear.

One day, her eldest son, Chai (Thakrit Tawanpong), returns from the army with a pregnant prostitute Renu (Ranee Campen) as his wife even though he already has a fiancée, Philai (Pitchapa Phanthumchinda). Yoi rejects this and tries every possible way to make him leave Renu but fails. Unknown to her, Renu has performed black magic to tie her son's heart. She decided to marry her second son Tong (Chanathip Phothongkam) to Philai to avoid shame even though he likes a worker named Chanta (Preeyakarn Jaikanta) and also chooses to give Tong the house and store that she was supposed to give to her eldest. Her third son Sa (Jirayu Tangsrisuk) is the kindest. He is handsome, smart and charming. When Yoi finds out he has feelings for Chanta, she worries he will imitate his eldest brother. She decided to have him marry Phiangphen (Oranate D. Caballes), the daughter of a wealthy family from another subdistrict, unaware that Phiangphen's family was planning to have him marry her because she was already pregnant, in order to avoid shame. Phiangphen already had a lover, Kan (Denkhun Ngamnet), a poor young man who lived in a hut at the edge of the rice fields with his chronically ill mother. Despite the circumstances, their love for each other was strong. Even though Sa married Phiangphen, she never loved or treated him as a lover. Sa himself never violated her and remained faithful to his love for Chanta.

Later, Wanna (Rinrada Kaewbuasai), Renu's younger sister, traveled to Chum Saeng to visit her sister. By chance, she met Si Yoi's fourth son. He immediately fell in love with Wanna. Although he was a flirtatious young man with many girls following him, he truly loved Wanna.^[1]

Krong Kam is a prequel to another drama that had been popular on Channel 3 in 2015, Sud Kaen Saen Rak (2015). Although the two dramas are not directly connected in terms of plot, they are set in the same province but in different districts and time periods. The villain protagonists of both stories, Yoi and Yaem, are portrayed as sisters.^{[2] [3]} The author of the novel the series was based on, Chulamanee, admits that he used Chum Saeng, a part of his native province Nakhon Sawan, as the setting, hoping to attract more visitors to travel there, similar to many Korean drama series which showcase real locations to promote tourism. This is a comeback drama for singer Mai Charoenpura, who has not acted for years.^[4]

When the drama aired, it quickly became popular. Fans and the general public traveled to Chum Saeng by train, turning this small town into a tourist destination.^{[5] [6]} As of early 2021, it has been rerun thrice, with the ratings remain as good as its first broadcast.^[7]

• Krong Kam at IMDb
• Official website