The premise ARM expands over 3 different eras – 1900, 1950 and 1990, with each era adding a different dimension to the drama in terms of the characterization of the protagonist. So what literally begins like a folklore with a grandmother narrating a story to her grandchild, the focus shifts to the 1900s wherein you are introduced to a warrior who is at the helm of things while being tasked by the King to drive away the miscreants, in exchange of which he requests for the lamp forged from the meteorite to hit the earth. As the drama progresses, we are briefly acquainted with the protagonist from the 1950s who happens to be a thief while being on the quest to rob the lamp. His blood and grandchild doubles up as the protagonist in the 1990s era who invariably becomes embroiled with the lamp while looked down upon mainly due to his lower caste and the actions of his grandfather who was a thief. And quite clearly, each of the stories are linked by blood relations and the issue of casteism that accompanies the narrative over its runtime of 140 odd minutes. 

One gripe that I did have with the writing here was its lack of interest in developing characters which were important facets of the drama. Clearly, there seemed to be a creative dilemma om whether to start and end a story in a single film versus develop characters, offer a buildup and take things into the next part of the franchise. And while opting for the former, the writing doesn’t quite invest in the other characters (apart from the protagonist across each of the three eras), that would have further contributed to a layered narrative. So here, you don’t really have a threatening antagonist which would have further escalated layers of tension in the drama. But think about it, the ambition to tie up different narratives together in a single film waa itself a huge achievement that slightly nullifies this shortcoming.

The writing here focuses on the issue of casteism that is prevalent in times today. This is symbolic of scenes with the introduction of the character of Sudev who mentions that he has dropped his last name to avoid his identification with regard to his caste. Yet in the very next moment when a lower caste character drops tea on his clothes and tries to clean it from his clothes, Sudev is naturally not happy. The issue of casteism is focused on the character of Ajayan (Tovino Thomas) who is shown to teach children of his village the fundamentals of the constitution even while looked down upon by the members of the village. These were pertinent issues but with regard to the larger scheme of things, the issue here barely scratched the surface particularly when the tone of the drama shifts to a sort of a treasure hunt in the second hour after a twist at the halfway mark. Just imagine touching upon the topics of the prophecy of the lamp and the magical powers that the lamp would have while bringing in the angle of casteism!

Despite this, I was immensely happy with the control the writing shows by switching themes from a folklore to a fantasy drama to an action drama and then to an adventure drama. The transitions were nearly seamless while integrating and combining eras with a lot of finesse. The twists and turns in the second hour truly elevate the drama even as the writing oscillates between the past and the present, each with a different flavour to be imbibed while navigating through nearly similar situations. There are minor lags in the screenplay but it does lead to an immensely satisfying end. Overall, the screenplay has its share of hiccups while refusing to dwell deeper in the narrative but there are plenty of moments that make for an enjoyable watch coupled with an incredible amount of hunger to succeed with the ambition of the project.