'Lokah' Director Dominic Arun Reveals His Favourite Films of All Time

As a filmmaker and screenwriter working right at the intersection of genre and experimentation, Dominic Arun is no stranger to ambitious storytelling. After making his mark with Tharangam (2017), a crime comedy that announced a distinct voice, he delivered the hit film Lokah: Chapter One – Chandra in 2025. The bold, female-led superhero film expanded the possibilities of Malayalam cinema and cemented his reputation as a director who is unafraid to think big.

Before directing, Arun cut his teeth as a writer, and that grounding continues to define his work. Drawing from years of absorbing cinema — from Malayalam classics and investigative thrillers to tightly written indie films and genre-bending movies — his list of favourites reflects a deep admiration for strong ideas, precision in writing, and films that trust conversation, sound and structure to do the heavy lifting.

Spadikam (1995)

WHY HE LIKES IT: “A Mohanlal film, it’s one of my favourites. I rewatch it whenever I get the chance. Filmmaking, narrative and sound design were something that I’d never experienced in a theatre before. This was the point when I thought that maybe [filmmaking] is something I want to try.”

A cult-classic Malayalam action-drama directed by Bhadran, Spadikam stars Mohanlal as Thomas Chacko and Thilakan as his father, Chacko Mash. The film explores the fractured relationship between a father and the son he disowned; who eventually returns as a notorious criminal.

The Man from Earth (2007)

WHY HE LIKES IT: “It’s one of the best-written films I’ve ever seen. It has been adapted into Lokah here and there, [in terms of] the script and the core idea of the film. It’s about a person, a conversation film with four or five people inside a room. They’re speaking about a book that one of the protagonists is writing, but he is actually describing his own life. Towards the end of the film, he lets out a reveal that will blow your mind.”

The Man from Earth is a dialogue-driven science-fiction drama that unfolds during a farewell gathering in a single cabin, where university professor John Oldman makes an extraordinary claim: that he is an immortal Cro-Magnon who has lived for over 14,000 years. As his academic colleagues interrogate the story, the film becomes an intense exchange of ideas, examining how reason, faith and history collide; confronting what it means to be human.

Yavanika (1982)

WHY HE LIKES IT: “It’s a film by master filmmaker K.G. George, something that we had never seen in Malayalam cinema at that point in time. I think it’s one of Mammootty’s first films. It’s got different perspectives of investigating a crime, with the backdrop set in a theatre. I recommend that everybody should watch it at least once.”

Directed by K. G. George, Yavanika is a critically acclaimed Malayalam mystery thriller that revolves around the disappearance of Ayyappan (Bharath Gopy), a gifted yet widely disliked tabla player. As the investigation led by sub-inspector Jacob Eeraly (Mammootty) progresses, layers of resentment and long-buried secrets come to light.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

WHY HE LIKES IT: “I am a big fan of Quentin Tarantino, so I’d watch any of his films. But [I’ve seen] Inglourious Basterds most often. I like when he tweaks history.”

In Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, a squad of Jewish-American soldiers led by lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) wages a brutal campaign against Nazis in occupied France. Their mission intersects with that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), a cinema owner who is secretly planning revenge on the Nazi officers responsible for her family’s murder. The parallel storylines ultimately meet in a daring plan to destroy a theatre packed with the highest ranks of Nazi leadership, including Adolf Hitler.

Vandanam (1989)

WHY HE LIKES IT: “I am a huge Priyadarshan fan, and Vandanam is a film that I love to see [repeatedly]. It’s just so much fun. And the way the film ends… .”

Vandanam is a Malayalam romantic comedy thriller directed by Priyadarshan. It stars Mohanlal, Girija Shettar, and Mukesh. The film follows two police officers who travel to Bengaluru to track down an escaped criminal, only for one of them, Unnikrishnan, to fall in love with the convict’s daughter, Gaadha. What follows is Priyadarshan’s characteristic blend of humour and suspense, culminating in a poignant ending.

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