Drishyam

''Drishyam'' () is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language crime thriller film written and directed by Jeethu Joseph. It stars Mohanlal alongside Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sharath, Siddique, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Roshan Basheer and Neeraj Madhav. The film was produced by Antony Perumbavoor under Aashirvad Cinemas. The film follows the struggle of Georgekutty and his family, who come under suspicion when Varun Prabhakar, the son of the IG Geetha Prabhakar, goes missing. A sequel titled '' Drishyam 2'' was released in 2021.

Principal photography commenced in October 2013 in Thodupuzha, where the film was extensively shot. The cinematography was handled by Sujith Vaassudev whilst the film was edited by Ayoob Khan. The soundtrack was composed by Anil Johnson and Vinu Thomas.

''Drishyam'' was released on 19 December 2013. The film received widespread critical acclaim with critics praising the cast performance, story, screenplay, and direction. It was the first Malayalam film to collect 50 crore. The film grossed over 62 crore worldwide. It ran in theatres for more than 150 days. It also became the longest-running film in the United Arab Emirates, running for 125 days. The film remained the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time until it was surpassed by '' Pulimurugan'' in 2016. It remained among the top 10 highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time for a decade.

''Drishyam'' won numerous accolades, including the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value and the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Malayalam. The film was also screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India and the 8th Asian Film Festival. ''Drishyam'' has been remade into several languages including four regional languages which were '' Drishya'' (2014) in Kannada, '' Drushyam'' (2014) in Telugu, '' Papanasam'' (2015) in Tamil and '' Drishyam'' (2015) in Hindi. Internationally, it was remade in Sinhala language as '' Dharmayuddhaya'' (2017) and in Chinese as '' Sheep Without a Shepherd'' (2019). Other remakes were also announced in Indonesian, and Korean, making it the first Indian film to be remade in both languages. An English language remake has been announced by Panorama Studios with U.S. companies Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films.

Plot

Georgekutty started out as an orphan who had dropped out of school after his 4th grade. He is now a businessman running a cable television service in the village of Rajakkad. He is married to Rani and they have two daughters Anju and Anu. His only interest apart from his family is watching films, as he spends most of his time in front of the TV in his small office. Due to his knowledge of his films, he is respected by the locals.

During a nature camp, Anju gets photographed in the bathroom by a hidden cell phone held by Varun Prabhakar, who is the son of Inspector General of Police Geetha Prabhakar. Varun meets Anju and blackmails her to have sex with him. That same night, he arrives at their house, but Rani is informed by Anju and pleads Varun to leave Anju alone. He agrees on the condition that Rani have sex with him instead. In an attempt to destroy Varun's phone, Anju accidentally strikes Varun in the head, killing him. They bury his body in a compost pit, which is witnessed by Anu. Rani informs Georgekutty about the incident and he devises a way to save his family from the police. He removes the broken phone and disposes of Varun's car, which is seen by the local police constable Sahadevan, who holds a grudge against Georgekutty. As Georgekutty takes his family on a trip to attend a religious retreat, a movie and a restaurant, Geetha starts an investigation upon learning that Varun has gone missing.

After a preliminary investigation, Geetha calls Georgekutty and his family for questioning. Georgekutty had predicted that this would happen and taught his family how to change their alibi at the time of murder. When questioned individually, they reply the same thing and they had also shown the bill of the restaurant, the movie's and bus journey's tickets as a proof of their alibi. Geetha questions the owners of the establishments they have been to and their statements prove Georgekutty's alibi. However, Geetha realises that on the day of the incident, Georgekutty had taken the tickets and the bill, made acquaintance with the owners and had gone for the trip with his family the next day, thus proving his alibi and making the owners unwittingly tell the lie.

Georgekutty and his family are arrested and Sahadevan brutally tortures them, including Anu to make the truth come out. Geetha learns from Varun's friend Alex about Anju's video created by Varun. Eventually, Anu gives in and reveals the place where the body is buried. After digging the compost pit, they find the carcass of a cow, indicating that Georgekutty had moved the body. Before Geetha and Sahadevan could react to it, Georgekutty and Anu goes to the media and complains of Sahadevan's torture against his family. Enraged, Sahadevan tries to attack the family again, but Rani's brother Rajesh and the villagers saves them and subdues Sahadevan, who later ends up being suspended while Geetha resigns from her post. Geetha and her husband Prabhakar meet Georgekutty to ask forgiveness for their rude and violent behavior and of their son's perverted behaviour, but Georgekutty suspects there might be foul play involved and still does not reveal directly about Varun's death. Georgekutty, now in remand, signs a register at the newly constructed local police station and leaves. As the police inspector tells him that he will find the body and that the police are not fools, Georgekutty replies by telling the officer he believes that the police are there to help the people.

As he exits the police station, it is revealed that Georgekutty had buried Varun's body beneath the police station.

Cast

Production

Development

In July 2013, it was reported that Jeethu Joseph will be directing a film titled ''My Family'' with Mohanlal in the lead. In August 2013, Jeethu clarified that the film was titled ''Drishyam''. A thread similar to that of ''Drishyam'' has been with the director since the early 1990s. He was inspired by a conversation he had overheard about the plight of two families involved in a legal battle.Rajaneesh Vilakudy (24 December 2013). Jeethu had penned the story of ''Drishyam'' even before ''Memories'' (2013). He says, "I started working on the subject some two years back. But I wanted to stick to the planned order and hence postponed the project till I finished ''Memories''".Sivalakshmi Roshith (5 September 2013). The script was initially planned to be filmed by another director but since that director could not find a producer, Jeethu took back the script and decided to direct it himself. Drishyam contrasts from the director's previous films. He says, "Different films require different treatment. I toiled hard while filming ''Memories'' as the film was full of twists and turns and the handling of the subject mattered a lot. But ''Drishyam'' is a complete script-oriented film that does not require any special effort. We shot the film sticking completely to the script, and the shooting was completed effortlessly."Parvathy Nambidi (19 December 2013).

Casting

Jeethu had initially approached Mammootty to play the lead, but he was unable to commit and asked Jeethu to proceed with the film with another actor. According to the director, Mammootty was instrumental in casting actress Meena for the film. The director, in an interview with ''The New Indian Express'', stated that he wrote the screenplay with Mohanlal in mind and that the character was tailor-made for Mohanlal. He later added that no changes were made in the script when Mohanlal agreed.

Kalabhavan Shajohn, who previously worked in the industry as a comedian and the sidekick of the lead actors, was chosen for the main antagonistic role. The director stated, "I had two-three actors in mind, but at last decided to pick Shajon. I was very clear that I did not want anyone who has played negative characters so far to do the role. Shajon was a total revelation." Roshan Basheer, who debuted through '' Plus Two'' (2010), was chosen after conducting a screen test. Asha Sarath was later signed for the role of a police officer. Child actors Ansiba Hassan and Esther Anil, along with Siddique, Irshad, Kunchan and Koottickal Jayachandran were also cast to play major supporting roles.

Filming

''Drishyam'' commenced principal photography in the first week of October 2013. Mohanlal joined the sets only from 10 October. The film was shot at Thodupuzha in Kerala. The road-side house shown in the film, which was a major location, is situated at Vazhithala, near Thodupuzha. The shooting had to be halted for a while as Meena fainted on the location. ''Drishyam'' was initially planned to be filmed in 52 days, though it was completed in 44 days.

Themes

A reviewer from ''The Hindu'' noted, "The film takes off as a typical family drama. The first half of the film is intentionally slow-paced and shows to the audience the lighter moments in the family of Georgekutty. This half combines the elements of drama and comedy genres. The audience gets completely absorbed in the twist of events that begin to unfold from the end of the first half. The second half is more like a thriller and is about how the family, despite the vengeful villainy of a corrupt cop, stands its ground even as the law takes its course." When asked whether this change in narrative style post-interval was intentional, Jeethu replied: "I really don't understand when people say the first half lacked pace. A story or a film has its own way of progression and it does travel in a zig-zag away, capturing all the ups and downs of our lives. Right from the start if you accelerate the pace, sooner or later, the story-telling will lose its steam."

When asked whether he had kicked off a new genre in Malayalam—family thriller, a genre which combines the elements of a family drama and thriller, Jeethu replied, "I still believe it belongs to the genre 'drama', not a thriller." He also stated in another interview, "We usually brand a film as a thriller, simply because there is some mystery in the narrative or the story unfolds through an investigation. But I don't subscribe to this. Although there are some twists in the tale and some suspense as well, ''Drishyam'' is essentially the story of a family."

The film has also been said to be inspired by '' The Devotion of Suspect X'', a Japanese novel written by Keigo Higashino. Ekta Kapoor, who had purchased the Hindi movie rights of the novel, sent a legal notice to the makers of the film. However, the director clarified, "After Ekta's legal team sent us the letter, I watched the Japanese film, '' Suspect X'', which is an adaptation of the Japanese novel. There could be similarities between my film and that Japanese film, but my film is neither an adaptation nor a copy. The Japanese film is also about a murder cover-up and hence the allegation. Similarities are quite common in the works of creators and that shouldn't be made into an issue." '' Rashomon'' (1950) was also cited as an inspiration for the film.

The film was criticised for the use of some "sexist dialogues" in the first half which were playing to a certain "new generation" audience. Sowmya Rajendran of Sify criticised the same and stated about one of such scenes in the film, "it is such banter, which we often dismiss with a laugh, that helps perpetuate rape culture." When asked about this, the director replied, "I firmly believe such conversations are part of our lives. I don't want to elaborate, but it also throws an insight into each character featured in the sequences. Yes, frankly, I was a bit worried how the family audience would react to those scenes. But then I read out that part of the script to a select group of women and they nodded their heads in approval."

There were also allegations that ''Drishyam'' might provoke murder. Kerala ADGP T. P. Senkumar IPS claimed that two people accused of murdering a woman from Nilambur in February 2014 admitted that their methods for disposing of the victim's body and mobile phone SIM card were influenced by the film. The murder of a young girl in Irinjalakuda by her father and his mistress was also said to be influenced by ''Drishyam''.

Music

''Drishyam'' soundtrack album features two songs used in the film, each of them were composed by Anil Johnson and Vinu Thomas, with lyrics penned by Santhosh Varma; the former provided the background score for the film. The album was released on 25 November 2013 by Muzik 247.

Veeyen of ''NowRunning'' noted in his review of the film that the songs "have a refreshingly delightful tenor to them that deserve an applause for certain." The reviewer of IndiaGlitz called the score "refreshing" and stated that it "builds the tempo" for the film.

Release

Theatrical

''Drishyam'' released on 19 December 2013 in India. It also received a theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates on 3 January 2014. The film was selected to be screened in the Indian Panorama at the 45th International Film Festival of India. It also screened at the 8th Asian Film Festival held in Jeddah in 2015, representing India.

Home media

''Drishyam'' was released on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and VCD on 9 May 2014. The film created a new record in the DVD and VCD sales on the first day of release itself.

Plagiarism allegations

In August 2014, film director Satheesh Paul filed a copyright infringement suit against the makers, saying that it had similarities to his script titled ''Oru Mazhakkalathu'', written in 2013. The court passed an order saying that the movie had prima facie similarities to Satheesh' script, but allowed the making of the Tamil version ''Papanasam'' to proceed, on the condition that the makers of ''Drishyam'' produce a 10 lakh bank guarantee before the court to ensure the compensation. The case was dismissed in March 2015 as it was proved that Jeethu had written the script in 2011.

Reception

Critical response

''Sifys reviewer rated the film as "Excellent" and stated, "It is not often that you sit in a theatre with bated breath, never wanting to miss a moment of the film on screen. Writer director Jeethu Joseph's ''Drishyam'' is one such film, a gripping tale that leaves you spellbound with its skillful craft." Veeyen of ''NowRunning'' rated the film 3/5 and commented, "In ''Drishyam'' Jeethu attempts a stunning mix of the real with the imaginary, and the result is an unpredictable cinematic artichoke that takes you by surprise at every turn." Rating the film 3.5/5, Paresh C Palicha of ''Rediff'' said, "''Drishyam'' can be credited for bringing Mohanlal back to form and pushing director Jeethu Joseph into the big league as he has made a cracker of a thriller." Jabir Mushthari of ''The Hindu'' wrote: "It takes craft, intelligence, and the superior acumen of a genuine storyteller to pull off a film in such an engaging manner." He also noted that the film's "thread and treatment are new to Malayalam cinema in many ways" and its "principles go against the set rules film goers here are familiar with".

Shibu B S of ''The New Indian Express'' wrote, "For his latest outing ''Drishyam'', Jeethu attempts a splendid mix of emotions, relationships, suspense and thrill. End result: a spectacular cinematic experience." Dalton L of ''Deccan Chronicle'' gave the film a 3-star rating, writing, "The limelight belongs entirely to Mohanlal. Like the versatile greats of Hollywood, this actor possesses such a vast repertoire that he isn't required to always attempt the radically new to stamp his towering persona." Mythily Ramachandran wrote in her review for ''Gulf News'': "''Drishyam'' is an unforgettable picture, shorn of irrational fight sequences and mindless dance numbers." Aswin J Kumar of ''The Times of India'' said, "''Drishyam'' is an elegantly crafted piece of film which Lal and Joseph can proudly hold close to their hearts."

Unni R. Nair noted in his review for ''Kerala9.com'', "The care with which the script is done, the finesse with which the direction part is executed and the characterization and performance plus the thoughtful placing of the songs makes ''Drishyam'' worth real appreciation. That the film has almost zero-'filmy' humour is also worth noting. It's the logical manner in which the story unfolds and the very convincing manner in which the characters behave makes it impressive." The critic rated the film three in a scale of five. ''IndiaGlitz'''s reviewer rated the film 8/10 and stated, "''Drishyam'' is undoubtedly cladded with exceptional story telling combined with bravura performances. An undoubtedly exceptional film as far the content is concerned, the movie is a must watch for all the audiences of family and thriller movies."

Box office

According to ''Sify'', the film "started on a low key" but "swept the box-office" from its second day of release. The film grossed 67 million in eight days. In 31 days, following its release, ''Drishyam'' became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, beating the record of '' Twenty:20'' (2008). The film ran for more than 150 days in Kerala, with collections of over 425 million.

The film grossed around 100 million from rest of India. It ran for 100 days in Tamil Nadu. It had a 100-day theatrical run in multiplexes in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. The collection from the overseas markets was more than 40 million, with around 10 million from England alone. ''Drishyam'' became the second film to complete 100 days in the UAE after ''Titanic'' (1997) and later emerged as the longest running film in the UAE by completing 125 days, beating the 110 days run of ''Titanic''. The film completed 100 days in 60 theaters in Kerala and rest of India.

''Drishyam'' was the first Malayalam film to collect 500 million. The film collected 620 million in its theatrical run worldwide. ''Drishyam'' held the record for box office gross until 2016 when '' Pulimurugan'' overtook it.

Accolades

Remakes

''Drishyam'' was remade into several languages. The Indian remake rights of the film were sold for 155 million. All the versions were commercially successful. '' Drishya'' (2014) in Kannada, '' Drushyam'' (2014) in Telugu, '' Papanasam'' (2015) in Tamil and '' Drishyam'' (2015) in Hindi. It was also remade in Sinhala language as '' Dharmayuddhaya'' (2017) and in Chinese as '' Sheep Without a Shepherd'' (2019) thereby becoming the first Indian film to be remade in Mainland China. The Indonesian remake was announced in September 2021, making it the first Indian film to be remade in Indonesian, The Korean remake was announced in May 2023, first Indian film to be remade in Korean. The film be remade in English language that would be produced by India's Panorama Studios with U.S. companies Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films. Gulfstream's Karz and Bindley said, “The film is a timeless thriller that has entranced audiences across the globe. We can’t wait to bring the movie to fans here in the U.S.”.

Sequel

Jeethu Joseph and Mohanlal were filming for '' Ram'' prior to the COVID-19 lockdown in India, however the shooting of the film was stalled as some sequences they want to film in foreign locations, such as London and Cairo. As the crew realised that the filming would take time to continue, Jeethu decided to start the works for Sequel. Drishyam 2 was officially announced by Mohanlal on his 60th birthday, 21 May 2020. Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sarath, Siddique, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Mela Raghu, Aneesh G Menon, Shobha Mohan and Antony Perumbavoor reprise their roles.

Principal photography began on 21 September 2020, and was shot for 46 days in Kochi and Thodupuzha and it was concluded on 6 November 2020. The film was released directly through the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on 19 February 2021.

''Drishyam 3'' was confirmed by Mohanlal on 20th February 2025.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Filmfare Award for Best Film – Malayalam

2010s Malayalam-language films
2013 films
Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police
Films involved in plagiarism controversies
Indian crime thriller films
2013 crime thriller films
Malayalam films remade in other languages
2013 drama films
Aashirvad Cinemas films
Malayalam films in series
Films directed by Jeethu Joseph
Films shot in Thodupuzha
Works subject to a lawsuit
Indian intellectual property law
2013 controversies
Indian mystery thriller films
Films about murder
Indian crime drama films
Indian mystery drama films
Films about miscarriage of justice
Indian detective films
Police detective films