The meaning of the film’s title Aarambham (beginning) and the Kannada book it is adapted from, Neenu Ninnolage Khaidi (I am a prisoner like you; by Anush A Shetty), trickles in and makes an impression towards the final portions of the film, after a few surprises are revealed. The final stretch provides answers to several questions, the most important of them involving a prison break, and is rewarding in that sense. But the journey towards these portions could have been better. Quite a bit works in favour of debut director Ajay Nag’s film — the freshness with which he and his technical team approach a sci-fi drama set in an idyllic village, not abiding by mainstream tropes — but some portions warrant patient viewing, with the ideas not translating into an engaging drama.
Aarambham begins as a prison break mystery. Prisoner no. 299, Miguel (Mohan Bhagath) has disappeared from his cell leaving no clues. Detectives Chaitanya (Ravindra Vijay) and Madhav (Abhishek Boddepalli) are called in to help. All they have at their disposal is Miguel’s diary and anecdotes provided by jail inmate Ganesh (Laxman Meesala). The urgency of solving the prison break is replaced by science fiction that the detectives have to understand to find answers.
