13 years back, Jeethu Joseph delivered the iconic Drishyam, which was a landmark film for Mollywood, garnering praise from across the country and the world after being remade in numerous languages within India and outside. In 2021, a story that was said to be closed was revived again with a stupendous sequel, with a direct-to-OTT release on Amazon Prime Video, broadening its reach to a larger audience. Jeethu Joseph and Mohanlal are collaborating on their 5th film, with the last one being Neru. Unsurprisingly, the expectations are sky-high, with record ticket sales and hype soaring to stratospheric levels, being one of the biggest openings for a Malayalam film. This film is also being released on Mohanlal’s birthday, which makes it an extra special and anticipated film for the Mollywood Superstar. Having struck gold on 4 previous films, how does the Jeethu Joseph-Mohanlal duo fare this time round?
Drishyam 2 culminated with Georgekutty (Mohanlal) hoodwinking everyone yet again with his sheer brilliance and eventually delivering Varun Prabhakar’s body remains to Prabhakar (Siddique) and Geetha Prabhakar (Asha Sharath). Nearly 5 years post the events of Drishyam 2, Georgekutty has now successfully produced his first film titled “Drishyam” and carries on with his life with Rani (Meena) and the daughters Anju (Ansiba Hassan) and Anu (Esther Anil), with Georgekutty and Rani finding marriage proposals for Anju. Now, the family faces the recurring challenge of their past coming back to haunt them, but differently, through a former adversary. This time round, what lies in store for Georgekutty and his family? Will he have one last trick in the bag, or will the guilt of having committed crimes to save his family start to weigh down on him and eat him from the inside, as hinted in the trailer?
Jeethu Joseph has showcased his writing prowess over the years when it comes to thrillers, especially with Drishyam and Drishyam 2, balancing the emotions of both families who yearn for one thing, and that is closure to this saga, balanced with the edge-of-the-seat thrill, with fans anticipating what could happen at every moment in the films. With Drishyam 3, he starts off the first half in a similar vein, which is slow and takes its time to bring us back into the world of Georgekutty, Rani and the two daughters and how their life has changed over the years as they grow older. He follows the same template, slowly builds up the tension and brings the first half to a close with a brilliantly executed interval twist, as was the case in the predecessors. The second half continues from where the first half left off, and continues at a gradual pace with a few twists and surprises at regular intervals, followed by an emotional and gut-wrenching climax, which serves as an excellent payoff after the gradual build-up. Jeethu Joseph delivers what he had promised all along, which is a film where the premise is different from what the previous 2 instalments had, with the core focus of Georgekutty coping with the fear and guilt of his past catching up to him and his family, with elements of the previous 2 where it’s about Georgekutty’s defence and his efforts to resist the cops. While some of the twists are generic, Jeethu has been largely successful in writing out a screenplay for a film where its predecessors have ended on a note where a follow-up seemed far-fetched, and he deserves his flowers for doing so, despite some bits which may feel draggy. Another plus point for the film is the character arcs for Georgekutty, Prabhakar and Thomas Bastin and the return of some of the key characters from the first part which Jeethu has done well.
Mohanlal is absolutely brilliant reprising Georgekutty as he was in the previous 2 instalments. In Drishyam 3, with a different kind of arc for the character, he takes the bull by its horns and smashes the nail on the head with emphatic panache. Be it moments of restraint, fear, guilt or anger, he effortlessly switches as and when the character demands it. Meena is brilliant yet again, portraying the anxious and naive Rani, who is also the ‘boomer mom’, engaging in petty drama with Anu. Ansiba Hassan and Esther Anil do justice to their roles as the grown-up Anju and Anu. Siddique as Prabhakar has a different character arc compared to the previous 2 instalments, where he was the grounded and empathetic character, but in this edition, he has a different character arc, which he relishes. Murali Gopy reprises his role as Thomas Bastin and portrays the officer torn between the duty to follow due process and obtaining justice unofficially for his friend and former colleague, and displays a good showing. The rest of the cast do what is required of them.
The cinematography by Satheesh Kurup is a mixed bag, with some commendably executed shots with slick camera movement. However, the VFX is a big disappointment in the film, with the colour grading feeling off in numerous shots, making it resemble a TV serial more than mainstream cinema of this day and age. On the musical front, Anil Johnson continues in the same vein from parts 1 and 2, with slight variations of the background scores, but it does the job in keeping the narrative gripping.
Final Verdict: Drishyam 3 mainly serves as a mix of emotional drama and slow-burn thriller, which focuses mainly on the titular character Georgekutty’s fear and guilt as he faces the same challenge from the familiar adversaries but in different forms. It is slow, it is draggy in some places, but the build-up eventually feels worth it after a good payoff in the climax. Drishyam was a landmark film for Mollywood, whose ending had people thinking the story was closed, but was followed up with a brilliant second part and a good third, where the developments of the story feel more organic than forced. Yes, the first 2 parts might fare better, but that does not take away from the positives of the third, nor does it take away the credit from Jeethu Joseph, the writer and director. The Drishyam trilogy is something that can be looked at with great pride by Mollywood audiences despite the minor flaws.
Rating: 3.5/5
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