Aarkkariyam

Aarkkariyam (transl. Who Knows) is a Biju Menon show through and through. A shaky, half-baked script with not enough depth is held together and made watchable purely due to his compelling performance as an ageing patriarch.

Sharaf U Deen and Parvathy star as a down-on-their-luck couple who relocate from Mumbai to Kerala due to their financial woes. The trials and tribulations they face as they try to sell off their ancestral property forms the rest of the story.

While the first half is a fun, aesthetically pleasing watch with enough intrigue, the second half reduces to a damp squib due to poor writing, leading up to a mediocre conclusion.

Much like Manju Warrier in the Priest, Parvathy's role is barely noticeable and criminally under-written. More screen time for Biju Menon and a tighter, edgier screenplay could have made this interesting premise into a thrill ride.

Watch it for a top performance from Biju Menon. He plays an aged man with grace and nuance, nailing the mannerisms, body language and even the tonality of a stereotypical 'Pala achayan'.

The movie overall, however, is very average.