Drishyam Movie Review

After 6 disastrous months, Bollywood has been going through some of its best times two back to back blockbusters in the form of Baahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The promos of Drishyam have generated a silent intrigue amongst the audiences as it promises a family thriller after a long time. Ajay Devgn’s return to playing intense characters and Tabu’s presence in the film lends it a lot of gravitas. Does Drishyam work as well in Hindi as it has in all the 4 South Indian languages? Let’s find out.

Story: Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay) is a 4th standard fail common man who owns a cable business and lives with his wife and two children in a serene Goan village called Pandolim. Their life gets turned on its head one day when the elder daughter is sexually blackmailed by a boy. When the mother, Nandini (Shriya Saran), intervenes the boys asks for sexual favours from her instead. In rage the daughter hits the boy on the head and he falls dead. When Vijay returns home, they tell him everything. He then hatches a plan to conceal the unintentional murder. However, the boy in question turns out to be the son of the IG of Police Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Thus ensues a cat and mouse game between the police and the Salgaonkars where the concealment of the crime by the family stays the focal point of the story. To know the resolution, watch the film!

Drishyam Review: Nishikant Kamat is a talented director who knows to keep things simple for films made on tight budgets. Here too the original Malayalam classic (also Drishyam) is adapted by Kamat by making it palatable to the Hindi milieu. Drishyam does take some time to speed up as the first half is mostly concentrated on developing the happy family life of the Salgaonkars. But things quickly start moving after the murder occurs, and reaches a thrilling climax. If you’ve seen the original then the Hindi version may not have a lot of impact left for you but if you’re watching this story for the first time then you will be left spellbound by the second half. Kamat maintains a tight grip of the proceedings and ties all the threads together very competently.

The technical aspects of Drishyam suit the nature of the film but one thing which caught our eyes was the cinematography by Avinash Adun who manages to catch the other non-beach side of Goa beautifully in his frames. The editing is decent but the film could have been trimmed by 10 minutes especially the first half. The music of Drishyam is not spectacular as they maintain a low key presence in this thriller.

Acting: Drishyam marks the return to form for Ajay Devgn. The actor has earned a lot of acclaim in serious roles in films like Zakhm, Company, Omkara etc. In Drishyam, he completely underplays his role and his behaviour, mannerisms and even his posture mirrors that of a common man. Tabu shines as the IG Meera Deshmukh. She portrays emotions of a mother who has lost her son, as well as the seriousness of being a strict police officer, with tremendous ease. Shriya Saran looks very pretty as the wife and emotes well. Unfortunately, she looks a little too young to play the mother of a teenage girl.

Conclusion: Drishyam is one of the most unusual thrillers to have come out of Bollywood in recent times. It takes a lot of time to set up the film and the thrill. But just when you’re about to lose patience, it takes us on a tour de force and keeps upping the gears until the last few moments. Drishyam deserves to be seen for two very good performances by the lead actors and also for the director’s tight grip over the subject material. Drishyam is as Indian a thriller as there possibly could be. If you’re in the mood for some drama and a good 3 hours in the theater, then Drishyam should be a must watch for you this week.

The best version of Drishyam is the Malayalam version. Ajay is flawless, but Mohanlal’s performance was in a different league altogether. The film has been made in 5 different languages including the original and Hindi version. Drishyam (2013 – Malayalam), Drishya (2014 – Kannada), Drushyam (2014 – Telugu), Papanasam (2015 – Tamil). If you have already watched one of those films, you can as well skip this.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Reasons to watch Drishyam

  • Ajay Devgn and Tabu. Flawless performance by both.
  • Fantastic thriller
  • Good second half
  • Cinematography

Reasons to skip Drishyam

  • Has been made in 5 different languages.
  • First half slow, runtime on the longer side
Advertisements

74 Comments

  • @indicine, is there any difference between Kamal Haasan’s Papanasam and this? I have watched the tamil movie. Thinking whether to watch this or not.

    From the promos it didn’t look very interesting.

  • Just watched Drishyam, for me a flawless film. Very rare to see people clapping when the film ends. Engaging first half and amazing thrill in second half. Best performance by Ajay till date. I will rate film 5/5…must watch

  • @indicine

    Why are you recommending some people who have watched the original to skip this movie?? It’s their choice whether to watch it or not. But asking people to skip a good movie is malicious. Don’t remember you recommending something similar during the review of crap like happy new year.

  • Indicine didn’t said anything related to tabu’s hotness :(
    Can Any 1 tell me that tabbu iz in POLICE UNIFORM for full film or just in few scenes ? If yes then will watch it otherwise skip..!
    Other then tabbu nothing exciting in the movie ..!

  • I watched the movie in Telugu being from Andhra….And also watched in Kannada in youtube…and since i did my engineering in tamil nadu, i know tamil hence i watched kamal hasan’s version as well. but i skipped the malayalam version…and yesterday i watched in hindi version. All the versions are good because they have not changed much of the scenes..even the car color is yellow :)

    It is a very good movie and will cross 100 crores slowly but definetely because of its story.

  • thank u indicine for rating it 3.5.everytime u rate a film 3.5 it wins huge appreciation from the audience
    3 idiots
    pk
    krrish3
    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
    Ek Villain
    Bajrangi Bhaijaan
    Humpty Sharma
    Gabbar

    and now Drishyam

    thank u indicine again
    Tannu Weds Mannu Returns

  • 3.5 just like pk and BB
    ab toofan aayega…

    I dnt likd the original drishyam the story was borin n irritating its a thriller with few thrills
    wil b loved by those who dnt watch holly thrilers for a crazy holly thriler fan like me drishyam is average
    so many peoples especialy families lovd drishyam
    so best of luck king AD

  • Climax of this movie is gud the last scence when mystery is revealed
    its a slow build up many people wil nt enjoy that(masses)
    my rating for drishyam original 2/5
    i expected super thrills but movie had few thrills

  • Drishyam should score 6.1 today
    9.1 tmrw
    and 13.3 Sunday
    Monday 7.3
    1st week-53cr

    2nd weekend -17.8cr
    2nd week-26cr

    lifetime -87cr
    verdict hit/superhit depending on budget

  • Salman’s character in bb wil never lie its all abt truth for pavan

    ajay’s character in drisyam is a lier
    lie lie n more lie

  • Drishyam does full justice with its genre thriller..seen such good thriller movie after long time..2nd half is too good and unpredictable..

  • Thank you indicine for rating drishyam 3.5 . Films u have rated 3.5 have got huge appreciation like

    ouatim
    jannat2
    awarapan
    jannat
    murder2
    PK
    3 idiots

    hope u give 3.5 to Azhar..waiting for azhar

    drishyam is showing steady growth

  • Interesting fact
    Salman’s character in bb wil never lie its all abt truth for pavan

    ajay’s character in drisyam is a lier
    lie lie n more lie for vijay
    go and watch drishyam to learn how to lie to save ur loved ones

  • I think film has shown a huge jump compared to morning show which were very poor. The multiplex in which I watched was almost 60% full.

  • Ajay devgan is the intense actor of bollywood i personally like intense ajay more than comic Ajay. box office doesnt matter because Ajay himself said he didn’t act in movie to think 150 crore business.

  • Well,just watched Drishyam..It is a decent movie I would say,definitely not the best thriller of bollywood.I found Kahaani and Talaash way better than Drishyam.
    Some Points::
    NEGATIVES
    1)First Half takes a little too much time to get things going

    2)Loud background score which gives it feel more of a masala film than a thriller,i just love the talaash background score,it is subtle and mysterious.

    3)Predictable and flawed climax(most dissapointing part of this film)

    4)Shriya Saran looks too hot to play a mother and wife of Ajay.

    POSITIVES::
    1)Top notch performances by Ajay,Tabu and the actor who played the Gaitonde character.

    2)Gritty,thrilling second half..edge of the seat experience! (Best part of the film)

    3)Loved the way they shot Goa,aerial shots looked beautiful

    Overall,Drishyam is one good one time watch thriller,with chilling second half,great performances but an unconvincing climax and first half.

    It will be 3.25/5 from me!!

  • If pavan kumar chaturvedi is in drishyam then movie wil b over after 45 mins
    watch drishyam u wil agree with me

  • At the boxoffice,I am afraid to say but I think Drishyam will be an average grosser at the best.I think it will refuse to show much growth this weekend.Though I would loved to be proved wrong.

  • Why did that stupid girl destroyed that guy’s cell phone a gud evidence in a rage?
    Go and watch drishyam and answer me

  • I think Govinda, instead of Ajay should have been in the movie.

    He would’ve suited the part to the T.

Leave a Comment