What Is Aarkkariyam About?
The premise of Aarkkariyam in 203 words, with nothing given away. The full story follows below.
In the midst of a looming COVID‑19 lockdown, a strained financial reality forces a Mumbai‑based couple to retreat to the quiet hills of Kerala. The journey promises a simple reprieve, yet the pandemic’s shadow hangs over every mile, turning the landscape into a backdrop for quiet introspection and uneasy anticipation.
Shirley returns home to her father’s modest house, while Roy, a businessman wrestling with unexpected setbacks, grapples with the weight of providing for his family. Their father, Ittyavira, a retired math teacher whose years of solitude have settled into a gentle routine, hints at a desire to downsize and embrace a slower pace. As old bonds are rekindled, the trio finds themselves navigating familiar comforts alongside the subtle undercurrents of unspoken histories.
The film’s tone walks a delicate line between tender family drama and restrained mystery, letting the lush Kerala setting amplify the characters’ inner conflicts. Beneath the warm hospitality and everyday conversations, a quiet tension persists—suggesting that the house holds more than memories and that the characters’ choices will be shaped by secrets quietly waiting to surface. This layered atmosphere invites viewers to linger on the nuances of loyalty, love, and the lingering echoes of a past that refuses to stay buried.
What Happens in Aarkkariyam?
The complete story of Aarkkariyam, from the first scene to the last, in 543 words (about 2 minutes). Spoilers throughout. Names in the text link to 4 cast member pages.
Spoilers ahead
Set against the COVID lockdown of 2020, this Ittyavira is a quiet, ominous drama about a retired math teacher living alone in Palai, Kottayam, whose routine life is upended by the people closest to him. Shirley, his only child, arrives with her husband, Roy, a businessman facing serious financial troubles, and the visit stirs old anxieties about money, health, and the future. Shirley’s world has shrunk to a small circle—her husband, her child, and a distance from the father who home-schools her memories with both affection and unspoken burden.
As the couple spends time in Pala, Itty is frank about a plan to sell the sprawling family estate. The sale would be generous enough to steady Roy’s finances and still leave something for Itty to live a simpler life in an apartment as age and illness close in. But before any deal can close, Itty drops a darkest bomb: he wants to exhume the skeleton of a man he killed and buried on the property. The reason is pragmatic and chilling—the new owner might uncover the bones, and Itty wants to confront the past before it unravels him further. The revelation hits Roy with a mix of shock and moral alarm, but it is a moment that quietly redefines loyalties and duty.
The dead man is Augustine, Augustine, Shirley’s first husband who vanished for months and who returned home on the eve of a hospital birth. He was amused by the news of Shirley’s pregnancy and the baby that followed, a detail that haunts Itty as he explains to Roy the circumstances of the crime. Crucially, he keeps Shirley in the dark, trusting that some things are sealed by fate or God’s will rather than by truth alone. The crime itself never comes to light openly because Augustine had a pattern of disappearances, and the world around Shirley accepts a version of events that never fully resolves.
Overcome with a mix of guilt, fear, and pressure to keep the family intact, Roy wrestles with the possibility of becoming an accomplice. Yet he cannot avoid the moral weight of it, and in a tense turning point, he helps Itty dig up the bones and, eventually, burn them. The act is both a grim attempt at closure and a public confession that cannot erase the years of silence, but it does alter the dynamics of their family in a lasting way. After this, Itty relocates to his new apartment, and the years begin to show their toll—dementia creeping into his days and distorting memory as he moves through a life he can no longer fully recall.
In the final moments, Shirley speaks with a quiet, ache-filled candor about how the public gaze and private pity shadowed her as a young, dependent mother. She seeks a real end to a chapter that refused to close, admitting that she never identified the body herself. Roy carries the weight of the hidden truth—the knowledge of what happened and the burden of keeping it secret—like a cross that follows him to his grave. The film closes on a restrained, sorrowful note, where memory, guilt, and the cost of telling the truth collide in a small Kerala home, leaving a shell of a family to reckon with what remains unsaid.
Aarkkariyam Timeline: Every Key Event in Order
12 key events in the order they happen, from “Lockdown backdrop and Itty's isolation” to “Roy bears the secret to his grave”. 12 events name a place, across 12 locations.
- 1
Lockdown backdrop and Itty's isolation
During the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the story unfolds around Ittyavira's quiet life. A retired math teacher from Kerala, he lives alone in Palai and faces aging and health concerns. The pandemic's disruption underlines his loneliness and foreshadows the drastic choices he will make.
When:2020 lockdown Where:Palai, Kottayam, Kerala
- 2
Shirley and Roy visit Pala
Shirley, Itty's daughter, is married to Roy and lives in Mumbai with financial troubles. They travel to Pala for a vacation, hoping for relief and to reconnect with family. Roy's business struggles are intensified by the economic slowdown.
When:During COVID-19 lockdown Where:Pala, Kerala
- 3
Itty learns of Roy's financial trouble
While staying in Pala, Itty hears about Roy's financial difficulties and decides to help. He reveals he is willing to sell his estate to cover Roy's debts and to provide extra funds for his daughter's family. He plans to downsize and move to an apartment due to age and health.
When:During visit to Pala Where:Itty's estate, Palai
- 4
Itty's chilling condition: digging up the past
Before selling the estate, Itty tells Roy that he wants to exhume the skeleton of a man he had killed and buried on the property. He fears the new owner might uncover the remains during construction. The motive is framed as a way to control the history tied to the land.
When:Before sale Where:Estate at Palai
- 5
The dead man revealed: Augustine
Roy learns that the murder victim is Shirley's first husband, Augustine. The revelation shocks him, as Augustine vanished months earlier and reappeared only to be suspected. The truth reshapes Roy's sense of guilt and responsibility.
When:During the digging Where:Property in Palai
- 6
Augustine's unpredictable return
Augustine returns home after months of disappearance, while Shirley is recovering in the hospital after childbirth. He mocks her pregnancy, revealing a heartless arrogance that shocks everyone. This encounter sets the stage for Itty's murder decision.
When:Around Shirley's childbirth and Augustine's return Where:Pala
- 7
Itty confides the crime to Roy
Itty explains the circumstances to Roy and reveals his own past act, choosing not to inform his daughter because he believes everything is God's will. He rationalizes the crime as ordained rather than intentional. Roy's reaction is troubled, torn between loyalty and guilt.
When:During the discussion Where:Itty's home
- 8
The crime remains undiscovered
Over the years, Augustine's disappearance goes unsolved and a decomposing body is identified by Augustine's mother and Shirley. The truth remains buried under the surface as time passes. The moral weight of the secret intensifies for the family.
When:Years after the event Where:Property and family environment
- 9
Roy helps dig up and burn the remains
Reluctant at first, Roy ultimately assists Itty in exhuming the bones from the property and burning them to destroy any evidence. The act cements his complicity and secrecy. This grim task marks a turning point in their relationship and moral boundaries.
When:During the concealment plan Where:Property site in Palai
- 10
Itty moves to a new apartment and shows dementia
After the disturbing events, Itty moves into a new apartment and begins to show signs of dementia. The aging man's memory and grip on reality deteriorate as the burden of his secret weighs on him. The transition aligns with his physical and mental decline.
When:Soon after the dig Where:New apartment
- 11
Shirley's closing confession
In the final narration, Shirley explains how she was haunted by the pity of others after Augustine's disappearance. As a young, dependent mother, she longs for closure but admits that she never identifies the body herself. The mother ultimately confirms that the body was identified by Augustine's mother.
When:End of the story Where:Narrative frame; likely Kerala
- 12
Roy bears the secret to his grave
Roy realizes that he will carry this crushing secret for the rest of his life, a burden like a cross. He recognizes that the family tragedy will forever influence his sense of guilt and complicity. The film ends on this somber, unresolved note.
When:Close of the film Where:End scene
Who Are the Main Characters in Aarkkariyam?
5 characters, among them Ittyavira (Itty) - Biju Menon, Shirley - Parvathy Thiruvothu and Roy - Sharafudheen: who each one is and the part they play in the story. Every profile links to the actor’s page.
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Ittyavira (Itty) - Biju Menon
Played by Biju Menon
A retired math teacher from Kerala who lives alone in a grand family estate in Palai. Practical and quietly devout, he contemplates selling the property to secure his daughter’s future, while secretly bearing a fatal secret. His slow, dementia-tinged decline accelerates the unraveling of long-held truths.
- 🧓 Elder
- 🗝️ Secrets
- 🏡 Patriarch
- S-
Shirley - Parvathy Thiruvothu
Played by Parvathy Thiruvothu
Itty’s daughter, a young mother whose husband is Roy. She endured social pity after her first husband Augustine disappeared and seeks closure, though the truth risks disrupting her family. Her emotional burden drives much of the film’s tension and moral questioning.
- 👩 Daughter
- 💔 Trauma
- R-
Roy - Sharafudheen
Played by Sharafudheen
Shirley’s husband, a businessman beset by financial troubles. He becomes entangled in Itty’s plan to exhume bones, torn between loyalty to family and fear of consequences. His growing guilt underscores the film’s ethical ambiguity.
- 🎯 Husband
- 🕳️ Guilt
- A-
Augustine - Jacob George James
Played by Jacob George James
Shirley’s wayward first husband who disappeared and was presumed dead. His backstory and disappearance illuminate the darker layers of the family’s past, culminating in actions that drive the present conflict.
- 🧭 Suspense
- 💔 Past
- AM
Augustine's Mom - Manohari Joy
Played by Manohari Joy
Mother of Augustine, who identified the decomposing body and carried questions about her son's fate. Her memory adds historical sorrow and a social vantage point to the family’s secret.
- 🧓 Elderly
- 🕯️ Memory
Where and When Is Aarkkariyam Set?
Aarkkariyam is set in Palai (Pala), Kottayam, Kerala, Mumbai and Maharashtra (2020). Here is why the time and place matter to the story.
When
2020
The events are anchored in the Covid-19 lockdown year, when daily life slowed to a standstill and families faced financial strain. The narrative juxtaposes the confinement of lockdown with the eruption of long-buried past events. Time in the film is defined by memory, aging, and the consequences of past actions surfacing during the present crisis.
Where
Palai (Pala), Kottayam, Kerala, Mumbai, Maharashtra
The story unfolds primarily in Palai, a quiet town in the Kottayam district of Kerala where Ittyavira lives in his ancestral estate. Scenes also move to Mumbai, where Shirley and Roy reside, highlighting the contrast between rural family roots and urban life. The Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 creates a constricted backdrop that amplifies secrecy and tension among the characters.
- ❄️ Kerala setting
- 🏡 Estate
- 🕰️ Lockdown era
What Are the Themes of Aarkkariyam?
3 ideas the story keeps returning to, among them Guilt, Secrets and Aging & Mortality.
-
01
Guilt
Guilt sits at the center of the narrative as Itty and Roy conceal a past murder. The film examines how a single, unresolved act can ripple through generations, shaping choices about truth, loyalty, and forgiveness. The buried crime casts a long shadow over family dynamics and moral responsibility.
-
02
Secrets
Hidden truths drive the plot: an undisclosed homicide, a daughter seeking closure, and a family trying to keep the past under wraps. Secrets test trust and push relationships toward fracture as the past and present collide. The exhumation scene becomes a literal and metaphorical reveal of what has been hidden.
-
03
Aging & Mortality
Itty’s aging body and dementia-like symptoms bring mortality into sharp relief. The film contrasts physical decline with moral aging, questioning how memory and guilt shape a person’s legacy. As time progresses, characters confront the consequences of their choices and the weight of time on family bonds.
What Kind of Film Is Aarkkariyam?
Melancholic in tone, with slow pacing and a moderate story, going by the plot summary.
- Tone
- Melancholic
- Pacing
- Slow
- Story
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Medium
- Ending
- Sad
A quiet, somber drama that builds tension through a slow-burn revelation of a dark family secret, creating a heavy, claustrophobic atmosphere of moral quandary and unresolved grief.
- somber
- quiet
- anxious
- claustrophobic
- tense
- melancholic
- family secrets
- moral dilemma
- grief and loss
- burden of truth
Content notes: murder, concealed death, exhumation of human remains, dementia.
Quiz
How well do you remember Aarkkariyam? Test yourself on the story.
