Director: Jithin Laal
Spanning three generations and nearly a century, A R M tells its story of guardianship and sacrifice across 1900, 1950, and 1990, using each era to reframe what the same piece of land has meant to the people who died protecting it.
What is A R M about?
In a village in northern Kerala, a hidden treasure has passed through the hands of three men across three very different periods — Maniyan at the turn of the twentieth century, Kunjikelu at mid-century, and Ajayan decades later. Each protector faces threats shaped by his own time, from colonial-era power struggles to more modern forms of greed, and each must decide how far personal cost is worth going to keep the treasure out of the wrong hands. Director Jithin Laal cuts between the three timelines rather than telling them in strict sequence, letting later generations echo and reinterpret earlier choices as the full shape of the family's burden comes into focus. The result is less a single adventure than three linked ones, bound together by land, lineage, and a duty none of the three men chose for themselves.
Cast & crew
Tovino Thomas anchors the film across its shifting timelines, playing the central thread that connects the three eras of guardians. Krithi Shetty and Surabhi Lakshmi take on key roles across the generational storyline, while Basil Joseph, Rohini, Harish Uthaman, Jagadish, and Pramod Shetty fill out a large ensemble spread across the three time periods. Director Jithin Laal builds the film around this rotating cast, asking several of the actors to carry different weight depending on which decade the story has moved into.
Context & significance
A R M released in 2024 as one of the more ambitious Malayalam productions of the year, built around a multi-decade structure that required separate period design for 1900, 1950, and 1990 within a single film. Stories about a family or village guarding a treasure or sacred object across generations have long been a staple of regional Indian cinema, but A R M leans into the historical texture of each period rather than treating the decades as mere backdrop. Its scale and period detail placed it among the higher-profile Malayalam action-drama releases that year, drawing attention for the scope of its production as much as its multigenerational premise.
Where & how to watch
A R M is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, letting viewers experience the three timelines in Farsi audio or with Farsi text on screen. A free account login is needed to watch, though the film's page can be read without one. K-Time's Farsi-language interface is built for Persian-speaking viewers exploring Indian regional cinema, with subtitle and dub choices available directly in the player.