What
decides the moral compass of a man? How far will he go to compromise that
compass to protect the things he values the most? And how does he justify his
actions at the end of the day.
When you
start out the journey of life, good and evil or right and wrong are laid out in
black and white. The border line separating them gets hazy as life goes on and
in the end you learn that the thing that matters most is your survival.
So what
happens when someone standing on the wrong side of your morality is someone you
love? Where will your priorities lie? This seems to be the predicament of Roy,
the protagonist of the movie ‘Aarkkariyaam’ (Translated as Who knows?) Roy, who
himself is going through a tough patch in his business) is startled to learn a
hard truth about his father-in-law. The story moves on from that point to
journey of Roy to reach a point of decision.
Roy is
portrayed as an ordinary businessman caught in hard times of the pandemic. He
uses goodwill of his friend, who cheats his company to arrange temporary funds
for Roy. Roy travels to Kerala along with his wife to her house in Pala and the
story evolves from there. The pace of the story evolves leisurely and smoothly until the story turns on its head
with a sudden twist.
The
characters are unraveled at its own beautiful pace, which is rather unseen in
movies these days. The character of Roy caught in a moral dilemma, when he himself is trying to
salvage the wrongs he has done, his wife moving away from a previous, abusive
relationship and a father seeking a closure in the mysterious will of God’.
Added to all the tensions is the life thrown off the rails thanks to the
pandemic.
The casting
and art work is exemplary. The actors have also done a fabulous work but I
found Biju Menon to be a little laboring in his act as a old man. It is a
matter of contention that our ‘superstars’ are rather reluctant to reinvent
themselves. This role could have been aced by one of them. The success of the
movie in times of pandemic shows that hardwork pays off.
