Drishyam was originally made in Malayalam with Mohanlal in the lead in 2013. Written and directed by Jeethu Joseph it garnered enough box office success and critical acclaim to inspire remakes in Telugu and Kannada. Most recently it was also remade in Tamil with Kamal Hassan as the hero. This week releasing in a theatre near you is Drishyam in Hindi with Nishikant Kamath donning the director’s hat.
We meet a simple, middle class, closely knit family in a scenic Goa village. There is Vijay (Ajay Devgn) who runs a Cable TV service business and also a movie buff. When not glued to his TV screen he takes his wife (Shriya Saran) and two daughters on trips to Panjim. It’s a happy family till an unexpected and unwelcome event shatters their peace.
The Goa police IG’s son goes missing. Tabu playing the tough cop, Meera Deshmukh then scavenges around for leads to her lost son. Drishyam is a whodunnit turned on its head. Well into the first half and we already know who has done it and why. We then trace the course of the investigation wondering when and how the truth would be made transparent, if at all.
A good thriller needs an engaging narrative, interesting characters and a pace that keeps us at the edge of our seats. Drishyam is 163mins of just this. Not in his usual Rohit Shetty-ish avatar, Ajay Devgn doesn’t disappoint us with his performance. Shriya Saran as a nervous housewife does a fair job but the show stealer is none other than Tabu. Her tough veneer occasionally showing cracks as she tries to piece together the puzzling disappearance of her only son is remarkably portrayed.
If you haven’t seen any of the previous Drishyam versions, make sure you book your tickets for this one. I’ll go with 3 and a half QUINTS out of 5. A good thriller that manages to maintain its momentum throughout!
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