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: 
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
Must watch drishyam.it’s a complete movie….
Aamir khan praise movie that why we aamirian watch it 3 times otherwise 106cr jai ho
A good movie,butunfortunately it wont set cash register ringing for severe reasons already remade several times and less enteertainment value.
@Bhojpuri then neither akshay is a superstar. He too is a flop star. If brothers opens big, then credit will go to dharma and Sid not to your joker star. And wait for SIB. It will also get poor opening and will flop. Akshay too is not a superstar if not ajay. But what? Are you talking about the biggest megastar aamir khan?
@Rew1! we are waiting for your answer.
@babaji, if you want to see this movie with subtleness and realism, watch the Malayalam version, it is brilliant……all others have made it a bit more extravagant keeping the mass mentality in their respective States and regions.
bhojpuri loongitard:
What was you king before working with Rohit shetty??? Before working with Rohit your king even struggled to give 100cr grossers. It’s Rohit who gave your king the only blockbuster in last 7-8years and revived king’s career.
@Rew1! If you are saying that if brother opens big that will be sid power. what a joke yaar. that is mean you have already started burning and will hide your face after 2 weeks.
even when SRK note that his going down day by day he went to Rohit shety and requested to make a film for him.
@A khan the truth is akshay is not superstar. He has not given single ATBB or highets grosser of the year in his ln whole career. Aamir has given 6 bad srk has given only 5. So Samir and Salman are 2 biggest superstars and no one is close to them in stardom and popularity. So shut your mouth you illiterate wannabe classless watcher.
@REW1! so that means you have completely lost your memory power. good luck bro. but don’t worry you will get your memory back after the release of brother.,,, in ajay case i have already proved you wrong. but you have to wait for the scared khan if you forget the collections of Talash
i think a person called Analyser is a huge Abhisek bachhan fan or a Vivek Oberoi fan becoz they both are anti salman(cause aishworya rai) hai ki nai bol
as a abhisek fan,this @Analyzer is supporting D3 costar aamir , HNY costar SRK and Bol Bachhan costar Ajay and barking against MEGASTAR SALMAN KHAN
indicine…
“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”.
Shriya saran was not the mother of teenage girl…She was adopted by Ajayy. Dont be a critic for a point u even didnt even bother to know