Aarkkariyaam

"Aarkkariyaam"  another lockdown movie that has been largely shot in a house located in a large plot near Pala. A gender-bender. Authenticity and attention to detail in the writing and direction impressed me.  It was soothing to watch the characters behavior inside and outside the house. It seemed to be the most admirable thing in the film that the gender roles were taken down from the norms without being obvious. The fact that kitchen work is done by everyone in a family is not even obvious with a single dialogue. In doing things for everyone, everyone does everything, regardless of who they are or what they work for. No one is overburdened. Jobs and responsibilities change inside and outside home as part of everyone’s actions.

All are at the same time emotional beings, believers, bound to each other at a frequency that is sustainable. When one falls, the next rises with it and reinforces that relationship in precise balancing. Even there, only individuals can be seen. All these is done without telling them they were a social activist, feminist or progressive, and thus without establishing anything. There is an unwritten rule in society and in movies that such interventions can only be made by giving such labels.

All the characters in it had individual stories. It's a little different making. Mixed reviews are heard but as a craft it is a film that is loved when viewed without prejudice

Cinematographer Sanu John Varghese makes his directorial debut with this movie. The film begins with the couple - Roy (Sharaf U Dheen) and Sherly (Parvathy Thiruvoth) in Mumbai - Roy is facing financial issues with his export business and his childhood friend Vyshak (Saiju Kurup) has helped him temporarily with some funds he should repay soon. Sherly's father, Ittiavirah (Biju Menon), a retired school teacher and a widower is living alone in a house located in the middle of a large property in Kerala and Sherly and Roy decide to drive down to provide some solace to the old man. Sherly also needs to bring her daughter from her convent school in Nagercoil - the daughter is from her earlier marriage to Augustine who died a few years back. Roy had also married and divorced Melissa and looks like it was not a very cordial separation. 

The couple reach Kerala and within a couple of days, the old man understands that they require financial support. The family decides to sell the house and property since Ittiavirah is too old to live alone and there is no way Roy and Sherly can move to Kerala for good. They very quickly find a buyer but that's when Ittiavirah makes a revelation to Roy that leaves him completely shaken, the secret shared.   It all rests on a wafer thin plot, which for some reason reminded me of Drishyam too. Father taking law in his hand to make his daughter's life safe. 

Roy and Sherly's difference in upbringing is also made very clear - Roy and Vysakh talk largely in Mumbaiyya Hindi while Roy and Sherly speak to each other in Malayalam or English - the use of a Salil Choudhary tune wherein Sherly sings the Malayalam lyrics and Roy sings the Hindi lyrics is especially a clever way of establishing where they were brought up (The song in question is Onnanam Kunninmel / Chhota sa ghar hoga). The stepdaughter - stepfather relationship (through telephone screens) has been shown as a very cordial one and looks like how it could be in today's modern families. 

Arun Janardhanan and Rajesh Ravi join the director as writers and needs appreciated for the details. Biju Menon's justifications seeped in spirituality for whatever has happened and is happening; is quite amusing and the actor is in good form. The last scene, where Parvathi is worried that her father has started forgetting things, and is asking her if Augustine has come back, made me awestuck, with she praying that he don't and Roy/Saraf being silent.