Pendulum

In a dream, two children, Amir and Angel, are talking when an unseen man suddenly calls to Angel and the vision dissolves. Jumping forward in time, the story follows Antony discovering Amir trapped inside the trunk of a truck at a quiet warehouse, where the enigmatic warehouse owner, Alex Ichayan, promises to dispose of him. The next day, Amir remains stubbornly inside the trunk, and Alex asks Antony to deliver him to a destination. Amir, with a dim sense of memory, explains that he lost his memory during a class with Kochu Thressia and oddly predicts that the truck will strike someone along its path.

The narrative shifts to present-day Kerala, where Dr. Mahesh Narayan, his wife Shwetha, and their daughter Thanmayi relocate from Melbourne. An elderly man visits Mahesh at the hospital, asking him to locate his missing son. Dismissive at first, Mahesh suspects mental distress and directs the man toward a psychiatrist. Later, the family embarks on a one-day trip to Marayur, with Mahesh stopping near a tea shop and confessing to Shwetha that he feels a sense of déjà vu in the place. A mischievous moment follows when Thanmayi accidentally places the car key in the trunk, locking the vehicle, and the tea shop owner welcomes them to stay for the night.

That evening, a strange sequence unfolds: Mahesh steps outside to make a call and unexpectedly encounters the old man again, only to find himself pulled into Amir and Angel’s dream and then struck by a truck. The morning after, Shwetha and the tea shop owner discover Mahesh unconscious outside the shop. Concerned, Shwetha attributes the episode to a panic attack and confides her worries to Dr. Shabnam. Mahesh seeks help from Dr. Jain Joseph and learns that the very truck that hit him was scrapped fifteen years ago. Following Jain’s advice, Mahesh goes to meet Antony, who recounts Amir’s ominous predictions and explains that he and his helper Babu were unable to identify the person hit by the truck. Jain then directs Mahesh to consult John Master, a figure who can shed light on his uncanny experiences.

John Master introduces the concept of lucid dreaming and explains how Mahesh appears in a shared dream space as an uninvited guest. Mahesh describes the two children who appeared in his dream, and John Master urges him to seek them out. With the help of Kochu Thressia, Mahesh learns more about Amir and Angel. He eventually locates Angel, who has become a librarian, and explains his strange experiences, while Angel remains skeptical, thinking the tale might be fabricated.

John Master grows suspicious that something significant happened between the two periods of Mahesh’s dream and counsels Mahesh to question Angel about any dream signs that Amir may have mentioned. When Mahesh asks Angel if she recalls any such signs, she suddenly finds herself in a distant place and realizes she is within a dream. Angel relives the moment when Amir spoke of dream signs and sees Mahesh there; Amir’s father reveals that someone was with Angel, and soon after, Angel and Mahesh awaken. The following day, Mahesh recounts to Angel the exact words Amir had shared, and John Master grows increasingly convinced that Angel is withholding something.

A new lead comes through Benny, who had worked with Angel’s father, Joseph. Benny forwards an old photograph of Angel from her childhood, prompting Mahesh to enter another dream and coax Angel to reconstruct memories of her former bungalow. He journeys into the recreated space, discovers a young Angel lying unconscious, and finds a painting of himself. He then regresses to the earliest dream, where Amir is conversing with Angel. In a tense revelation, Mahesh confesses to John Master that he may have provoked Angel to harm Amir. A shocking twist follows as Mahesh realizes that John Master himself is, in fact, Amir, who warns that the dream will soon collapse and that they will meet again. Mahesh wakes near the tea shop and experiences a time loop, crossing paths with Angel once more. He learns that Angel was manipulated into injuring Amir by someone’s machinations, and he finally arrives at the place Amir had indicated, only to witness Amir’s lifeless body being carried away.

The film binds dream and reality in a slow-burning examination of memory, guilt, and the fragile permeability between waking life and sleeping vision. Throughout the journey, Mahesh’s quest to understand his own role in the extraordinary sequence of events becomes a meditation on how past collisions with memory can echo across time, reappear in unexpected places, and redraw the boundaries between doctor, patient, and dreamer. The closing moments linger on the haunting image of loss and the unresolved links between the people who inhabit both sides of the dream, leaving the viewer with questions rather than tidy conclusions.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:16