Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil

Betty gets arrested on murder charges, while her lover Jacob Varghese is on the run. Jacob tactfully misleads the police and flees with Betty, where they somehow stay hidden for days. On their way to collect passports, Betty gets involved in a protest and is admitted to the hospital while Jacob gets arrested. In the police station, Jacob is ruthlessly handled by the police, and finds his inmates as arrogant and unsympathetic, where he decides to escape.

Jacob shares his desire with another inmate named Simon. Initially, Simon disagrees, but later agrees as he wants to meet his family. The advocate of Appachan, a rich businessman, questions Jacob about the location of a man called Charlie, but Jacob remains calm and tells that he doesn't know Charlie. Simon asks Jacob about Appachan and Charlie, where Jacob reveals his story.

Past: Jacob was the manager of Appachan's company, and Charlie was Appachan's driver. Charlie was keen to take revenge on Appachan as he killed his father. During this time, Jacob met and fell in love with Betty. Meanwhile, SI James had kidnapped and killed a girl named Indu, where Betty became the sole witness and tells James' involvement in Indu's death. James gets released on bail, where he tortures Betty, but Jacob kills him in anger. Jacob tells everything to Charlie, who in turn robs 35 million from Appachan's company. Charlie goes to Australia and promises Jacob that he would come back to take him and Betty, along with him. Betty is in a convent from where she is arrested.

Present: Simon and Jacob plans to escape and somehow makes the other inmates leave their cell. Meanwhile, a thief named Devassy and a migrant worker Ramu arrives, and they also plan to escape with Simon and Jacob. However, the police find marijuana in Simon's cell. Jacob digs a hole through the toilet of his cell down the drainage and into the compound, where he starts building the tunnel a bit-by-bit with the help of Devassy, Ramu and two other thieves, who are basically twins who initially hated the escape plan, but later agreed after learning that they've been falsely accused.

A new inmate who is arrested on the charge of molestation arrives. Jacob and his gang somehow evade him. With whom Jacob had a fight earlier, Udayan arrives at their cell to foil their plan. Appachan sends some goons in the prison to brutally torture Jacob so that he would confess where Charlie is and then kill him. The gang involves Simon, who in turn helps Jacob and his gang. Jacob blackmails Udayan and asks him to remain silent so he can also escape. During the night, Jacob, Simon, Devassy, Udayan, Ramu and the twin brothers start their escape down the tunnel.

In the tunnel, Jacob and Udayan get into a fight, but Jacob successfully beats Udayan and escapes. The police are alerted, and Udayan is caught and brutally thrashed. They start chasing the other men who escaped. All of them escape by jumping into a river, except the twin brothers, where one of whom gets hit by a police jeep. Later, Jacob manages to help Betty escape from the hospital. Devassy and Ramu will reach West Bengal in 2–3 days, Simon and his gang escape in another boat, and also made bail arrangements for the twin brothers. They leave for Australia, where Charlie is settled.

• Antony Varghese as Jacob Varghese
• Vinayakan as Simon
• Chemban Vinod Jose as Devassya
• Sinoj Varghese as Girijan
• Rajesh Sharma as Jail warden
• Tito Wilson as Udayan
• Aswathy Manoharan as Betty
• Lijo Jose Pellissery as Appachan's lawyer
• Kichu Tellus as Charlie
• Anil Nedumangad as SI James
• Dinesh Prabhakar as Murugan
• Arya Salim as Simon's Wife
• Ramu

Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil (freedom at midnight) is the directorial debut of Tinu Pappachan, a former associate-director to Lijo Jose Pellissery (who also co-produced the film with Chemban Vinod Jose) and scripted by Dileep Kurian, a close friend to him. Pappachan describes the film as an "action thriller" with the story set in a sub-jail and revolving around prisoners in remand. The jail sequences were shot in Thiruvananthapuram, a jail set was used for the extensive night shoots; art director was Gokul Das.[2]

The film was released in India on 31 March 2018, distributed by B. Unnikrishnan's RD Illuminations.[3][4]

• Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil at IMDb