Drishyam: The Conclusion Review

After Drishyam’s phenomenal success in Malayalam in 2013, it was remade in four Indian regional languages (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam), and almost all the remakes were successful. Later, a sequel was made in Malayalam and it was released directly on the OTT platform, Prime Video in 2021 during COVID. Since it was released on OTT and was available for people to watch at home, the makers of the Telugu and Tamil versions decided not to remake the sequel. However, the sequel wzd remade in Hindi and Kannada and those versions were released in theatres. And, the Hindi version went on to become a huge success at the box office. Earlier this year, the third part of the Malayalam version was released in theatres and achieved moderate success. Unlike the Malayalam makers of the film who wanted to do a fourth part as well, the Hindi makers of the film, decided to conclude the franchise with the third part and opted to go with an original story instead of borrowing the remake rights of the Malayalam version. After generating enough curiosity with an interesting trailer, the film with the title, Drishyam: The Conclusion, was recently released in theatres. Did the decision to go ahead with an original story for the Hindi version work out? How did the makers of the Hindi version conclude the franchise? Is third part of the franchise in Hindi outscored the third part of the Malayalam version? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

The story of Drishyam: The Conclusion, is a proper continuation of the second part. Six months later the final proceedings which were shown in Part Two, the case against Vijay Salgaonkar(Ajay Devgn) and family- reopen again. This time, Crime Branch’s SP, Rajveer Singh Tomar(Jaideep Ahlawat) and an experienced lawyer, Indrajith Shetty(Prakash Raj), join hands with Meera Deshmukh(Tabu) and Mahesh Deshmukh(Rajat Kapoor) to get the case to a conclusion and to put Vijay Salgaonkar and his family in jail. What is the new evidence that Rajveer Singh Tomar found against Vijay and his family? How did Vijay manage to save his family yet again? Or, did he save his family yet again or finally, accept the truth in court? How did the makers of the Hindi version, conclude the franchise? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Ajay Devgn in the role of Vijay Salgaonkar, did his role very well, as he did in the initial two parts of the franchise. As a person who can do anything and everything to protect his family, he delivered a very restrained and believable performance. However, the real showstealer of the film is Jaideep Ahlawat. In the role of Crime Branch’s SP, Rajveer Singh Tomar, he delivered a superb performance. With his performance, he made us believe that if there’s anyone who can win against determination, it is, Rajveer Singh Tomar. It was great to watch him perform throughout the film. Especially, the expression he gives during the pre-climax when he and his team found the skeleton in the coffin, speaks volumes about his acting capabilities.

Prakash Raj in the role of an experienced lawyer made his presence felt. He did a good job with his performance as always and generated a few laughs in places. Kamlesh Sawant in the role of the Sub Inspector, Laxmikant Gaitonde, was superb with his dialogue delivery and he managed to generate good laughs, especially during the first half of the film. Tabu, Shriya Saran, Rajat Kapoor and others played the same roles they played in the initial two parts and almost all of them delivered good performances.

Technicalities:

Cinematography by Sudhir K. Chaudhary, was first-rate. His visuals enhanced the tension around the proceedings and also captured the mood of the film very well. Especially, his shot division during the night and while capturing the visuals in the rain was top-notch. Editing by Sandeep Francis is good. He managed to keep the suspense and thrill throughout the film, with his slick editing. Just like the cinematography and the editing, Amar Mohile’s background score also helped in building the tension well. The dialogues written by Aamil Keyan Khan, worked out very well. Especially, the initial dialogue of Tabu where she says ‘Do I have to feel sad because my son is dead or because the world already forgot my son.’ The film has many such well-written dialogues, especially during the climax. Let’s discuss in detail the writing, screenplay and direction, in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Twists During The Final Thirty Minutes
2.⁠ ⁠Curiosity-Driven Screenplay
3.⁠ ⁠Gripping Narration
4.⁠ ⁠Jaideep Ahlawat’s Performance

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Convenient Writing

Analysis:

All good stories have to come to an end before people get bored of the theme – Ajay Devgn and his director, Abhishek Pathak, realised this point very well compared to the Malayalam version’s hero and the director, Mohanlal and Jeethu Joseph. The makers of the Hindi version’s third part scored half the success with their decision to conclude the franchise with the third part and by titling it ‘Drishyam: The Conclusion’. We as an audience, are already aware that Vijay Salgaonkar, will definitely come out triumphant this time around as well in protecting his family. The only two answers we seek before entering the theatre are – What plans will Vijay come up with, this time to protect his family? What is the conclusion to the case? The good thing is that the director, Abhishek Pathak and his writing team came up with a gripping narration and answered both questions in a thrilling manner. Yes, the writing is a bit too convenient but the director made sure to let the audience ignore the convenient writing, with a thrilling execution of the proceedings. It is where the Hindi version’s third part outscored the Malayalam version’s third part.

Malayalam version’s director, Jeethu Joseph, indeed came up with a better conflict point and the twists, although they were rushed, were written without much logical loopholes. However, in an attempt to give the third part an open ending and to continue the franchise, he stepped into the zone of melodrama and dragged the family drama portions for a long time, ending up giving a mid-film. The conflict point he chose and the twists he wrote, would have worked big time, had he decided to end the story. Unfortunately, the greed to cash in on the brand value of the film, misfired to an extent. However, the makers of the Hindi version did not make the same mistake. The director and his team focused more on building the drama through suspense and thrill for the majority part of the film before eventually come up with the twists during the pre-climax and climax. In fact, during the entire first half, there were no twists and turns and yet the director made us sit on the edge of our seats and watch the proceedings unfold on screen. It is because of the gripping initial two hours that the twists, although convenient, worked big time in favour of the film, during the pre-climax and climax.

The best thing that happened to the film is Jaideep Ahlawat. In the role of Crime Branch SP, he delivered a splendid performance. The entire first half runs mostly on him and he managed to engage the audience very well through his performance. Another good thing that worked in the favour of the film is the entertainment quotient. Yes, the film has enough suspense and thrilling moments but it also has good lighter vien fun moments. The writing team came up with interesting dialogues to generate fun using the character of Laxmikant Gaitonde, without deviating from the overall mood of the film. The dialogue writing is one of the major highlights of the film. ‘You are a very hard-working criminal’, ‘Films don’t need to tell the truth but they just have to feel real’, ‘They searched for the truth but I made them see only my version of the truth’, ‘This time it’s not about the win but about fate’, ‘It doesn’t matter you are telling the truth or not. If you are a good narrator, people just believe that, what you say is the truth – All of these dialogues fit so well into the story and helped the director to give a meaningful conclusion to the film. The only complaint about the film is the convenient writing for the twists and turns. Yes, the twists worked out but they aren’t logically foolproof.

Overall, Drishyam 3 is a perfect conclusion for one of the most loved film franchises in Hindi and if we have to compare, the Hindi version’s third party is better than the Malayalam version’s third part. The director and the team succeeded in coming up with a gripping narration and ended up giving a thrilling and satisfying finale.

Bottom Line – Thrilling Conclusion

Rating – 2.75/5