Kishkindha Kaandam

Appu Pillai, a retired Indian Army soldier known for his highly authoritarian demeanor, lives with his younger son, Ajayachandran, alias Ajayan, near a reserve forest populated by a large monkey colony. Ajayan's first wife, Praveena, passed away from cancer two years prior, and their young son, Chachu, had gone missing a year before her death. Alongside his police relative, Shivadasan, and Praveena's brother, Prasobh, Ajayan continues a desperate, public search for Chachu. When Ajayan marries Aparna, she relocates from her corporate job in Bangalore to assist in the search. Shortly after moving in, Aparna notices Appu Pillai's erratic behavior and suggests to Ajayan that his father is suffering from progressive memory loss. Ajayan confirms her suspicions, revealing that Appu Pillai was medically discharged from the military due to his cognitive decline, but developed elaborate note-taking techniques to mask his condition and preserve his pride. Ajayan warns Aparna never to bring up the illness to the fiercely defensive patriarch.

Amrith Lal, introduced as an army colleague, regularly visits Appu Pillai. To facilitate these interactions, Appu Pillai relies on a photograph on his wall to recognize Amrith and consults hidden cue cards detailing past conversations. However, Appu Pillai grows suspicious of one of his own notes warning him that Amrith is not a real soldier and cannot be trusted. Appu Pillai violently accuses Amrith of manipulation, but the fight is defused by Ajayan and Aparna. Due to his rapidly resetting memory, Appu Pillai immediately forgets the confrontation, and Amrith quietly departs. Shortly after, wildlife photographers capture an image of a monkey holding a firearm in the forest. The police suspect it belongs to Appu Pillai and summon him. He asserts that his licensed pistol is safely at home. Meanwhile, an excavation on a neighboring property Appu Pillai sold two years prior uncovers a buried skeleton. Though initially feared to be Chachu's remains, forensics reveal it is the skeleton of a large monkey killed by a bullet matching Appu Pillai's weapon.

Appu Pillai is taken into custody for questioning, but his severe amnesia prevents him from giving rational answers, causing him to break down. Ajayan intervenes, presenting his father's medical discharge papers to the police. Fearing administrative backlash for licensing a firearm to a mentally unstable individual, the authorities release him. It is then revealed that Amrith Lal is actually a professional psychiatrist hired by Ajayan to monitor Appu Pillai under the guise of an old military friend. Aparna, having previously witnessed Appu Pillai burning personal documents, sneaks into his locked room. She discovers his hidden archive of notes, which reveals he has been conducting his own investigation into Chachu's disappearance. A critical note states that while two bullets are missing from his gun, only one was recovered from the deceased monkey. She also finds the allegedly "missing" pistol hidden inside a secret drawer.

When Appu Pillai catches her and reacts furiously to the invasion of privacy, a shaken Aparna confronts Ajayan with the evidence. Ajayan breaks down and confesses the horrifying truth: three years prior, Praveena caught Chachu playing with the loaded pistol. During a tense struggle to disarm the boy, the weapon discharged, instantly killing Chachu. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt, Praveena consumed a fatal overdose of her cancer medication. Ajayan returned home to find his dying wife and rushed her to the hospital, leaving Chachu's corpse behind. When he returned, the body was gone, the blood had been cleaned, and a calm Appu Pillai was eating dinner—implying the grandfather had disposed of the corpse before his mind wiped the trauma.

Ajayan later caught his father burning his notes. Appu Pillai told Ajayan that his investigative logs proved the boy died from his gun, but he was intentionally burning the files because he refused to live the rest of his life knowing which family member was a murderer. However, due to his degenerative disease, Appu Pillai is trapped in a tragic loop: he repeatedly forgets the tragedy, notices his missing gun, restarts his investigation, rediscovers the truth, and burns his files all over again to protect his family from themselves. To maintain this fragile peace, Ajayan and Aparna pretend to travel to Nagpur to continue their hopeless search for the "missing" Chachu, leaving Appu Pillai alone to restart his endless, agonizing cycle of investigation.

The film contains one song "Vaanara Lokam" composed by Mujeeb Majeed with lyrics by Shyam Muraleedharan, sung by Job Kurian and Jmymah.^[41]