Aarkkariyam (2021) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film takes place primarily in Palai (also spelled Pala), a quiet town in Kerala's Kottayam district, where Ittyavira lives in his ancestral family estate. Key scenes also occur in Mumbai, where Shirley and Roy reside, creating a contrast between rural family roots and urban modern life.

• setting
• location
• kerala
• mumbai
• palai
• pala

The events occur during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020. This period of confinement and uncertainty provides the backdrop for the family's secrets to surface, as the slowed pace of daily life amplifies the tension and isolation among characters.

• time period
• 2020
• covid
• lockdown
• era

The film explores three interconnected themes: guilt stemming from an undisclosed homicide that affects generations, secrets that test trust and fracture relationships, and aging combined with mortality as characters confront their past choices and declining health.

• themes
• guilt
• secrets
• aging
• mortality
• meaning

Ittyavira (played by Biju Menon) is a retired math teacher living alone in his ancestral estate in Palai. He is Shirley's father, practical and quietly devout, dealing with dementia-like symptoms while secretly harboring a fatal crime from his past that shapes the family's present conflict.

• character
• ittyavira
• itty
• biju menon
• father

Shirley (played by Parvathy Thiruvothu) is Ittyavira's daughter and Roy's wife. She is a young mother who previously endured social pity after her first husband Augustine mysteriously disappeared. She seeks closure about that disappearance, but the truth threatens to disrupt her current family life.

• character
• shirley
• parvathy
• daughter
• augustine

Roy (played by Sharafudheen) is Shirley's husband, a businessman facing financial troubles. He becomes entangled in Itty's plan to exhume bones from the past, torn between loyalty to his family and fear of the consequences. His growing guilt underscores the film's moral ambiguity.

• character
• roy
• sharafudheen
• business
• financial

The lockdown creates a constricted atmosphere that amplifies secrecy and tension among characters. With movement restricted and daily life slowed to a standstill, the family is forced to confront long-buried truths that might otherwise remain hidden, both literally and metaphorically.

• covid
• lockdown
• pandemic
• restriction
• confinement

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.

• guilt
• crime
• murder
• concealment
• consequences

Hidden truths drive the entire 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 both a literal and metaphorical reveal of what has been hidden.

• secrets
• hidden truth
• exhumation
• revelation
• family

Itty's aging body and dementia-like symptoms bring mortality into sharp focus. 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.

• aging
• mortality
• dementia
• memory
• decline
• legacy

At its core, the family conflict revolves around a concealed crime from Itty's past that resurfaces during the lockdown. The revelation threatens to expose not just the crime itself, but also the moral compromises different characters have made to protect themselves and each other, creating an impossible situation with no clear resolution.

• family conflict
• secret
• past crime
• exposure
• moral dilemma

Augustine is Shirley's wayward first husband who disappeared and was presumed dead. His backstory and mysterious disappearance illuminate the darker layers of the family's past. The actions surrounding his fate drive much of the present conflict and the moral dilemmas faced by other characters.

• augustine
• disappearance
• first husband
• missing
• backstory