Inarguably, no other mystery thriller has kept audiences hooked quite like Drishyam has for 11 years now. Such is the franchise’s hold over viewers that the makers didn’t need city tours or a round of interviews to drum up excitement for the latest film… They just threw in some free pav bhaji with movie tickets (I kid you not, it’s actually happening)!
“Do October ko kya hua tha?” is as potent a question as “Why did Katappa kill Baahubali?
Right off the bat, Abhishek Pathak , who returns as writer and director, makes it clear that he isn’t simply following the Malayalam original starring Mohanlal. Meera Deshmukh ( Tabu ), still grieving the loss of her son Sam, is suicidal over the fact that Vijay and his family got away with his murder. Unable to come to terms with it, her husband (Rajat Kapoor) approaches Crime Branch chief Rajveer Singh Tomar ( Jaideep Ahlawat ), urging him to reopen the case. And before you know it, Vijay is in deep trouble yet again. Only, this time, the stakes feel higher, the atmosphere more tense. For once, it genuinely seems like Vijay might have finally run out of road. What unfolds from here forms the rest of the plot. Not sticking to the original film’s narrative is a smart choice on the makers’ part. The Malayalam version tended to stretch things out, particularly towards its climax, whereas this one chooses to cut to the chase almost immediately. There is little time spent setting things up. The emphasis is on Vijay being pushed into a corner. It gives the film a sense of urgency that keeps things moving. But this narrative choice comes with a trade off. In its eagerness to get to the central conflict, the film almost completely sidelines Vijay the family man. Shriya Saran and the two daughters, played by Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav, have virtually no dialogues or meaningful presence in the first half. And that is a departure from what made the original Drishyam so effective. Vijay wasn’t merely a man outsmarting the police; he was also a protective husband and father, whose ordinary, endearing family life made his extraordinary actions all the more compelling. The tension came not just from wondering whether he would get caught, but from knowing what he was trying to protect. In shifting the focus so decisively towards the thriller bit, the film loses some of the emotional grounding that gave the franchise its appeal. As the film races towards its climax, it serves up its share of drama, keeping you invested in the big reveal. But when it comes to explaining how a school dropout like Vijay pulls off his latest bout of smart aleckness, the film relies entirely on convenience. The slick planning that once made us marvel at Vijay’s mind are replaced by a series of developments that require us to simply go along with them. And that is where the film loses its edge. It looks clever on the surface, but scratch beneath it, and the writing feels anything but. Yes, it looks smart, but is actually dumb.
