Drishyam

About the film

Drishyam (transl. Visual) is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film, directed by Nishikant Kamat and produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Panorama Studios. A remake of the eponymous 2013 Malayalam film, the film stars Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran. Ishita Dutta, Mrunal Jadhav, Rajat Kapoor, Kamlesh Sawant, Prasanna Ketkar and Rishab Chadha.

The film was released on 31 July 2015, and in China in 2022. Upon release, it was a critical and commercial success. A sequel titled Drishyam 2 was released in 2022.

Plot

Vijay Salgaonkar is an orphan who dropped out of school at the fourth grade. He is now a businessman running a cable TV service in Goa. He is married to Nandini and has two daughters: Anju, his adopted elder daughter and Anu, his youngest daughter. His only interest, apart from his family, is watching films.

During a school camp, a nude video of Anju gets recorded by another student, Sameer "Sam" Deshmukh, who is the son of the Inspector-general of police Meera Deshmukh. Sam uses the video to blackmail Anju for sexual favors. That night, he turns up at her house and when Nandini arrives, she pleads with him to delete the video and leave Anju alone. He agrees on the condition that Nandini sleep with him. Anju while trying to knock the phone with the video out of Sam's hand, strikes his head accidentally with a rod, killing him. Anju and Nandini bury Sam's dead body in a compost pit, and this act is witnessed by Anu.

The next morning, when Vijay comes home, he is informed of the incident by Nandini, and he devises a way to save his family from the police. He constructs an elaborate "drishyam" (or visual) to cover up the murder and create an airtight alibi for the family. He constructs their alibis by taking a trip after the fact to Panaji for a religious sermon, which of course they miss because they go there the day after. However he returns for the same trip a week later and reinforces their earlier visit - with just the dates changed so the witnesses will corroborate their presence on the day of the murder. Then he removes Sam's broken phone and disposes of his car in a lake, which is seen by Sub-inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde, who holds a grudge against Vijay.

Production

In November 2014, it was announced that Ajay Devgn would star in the Hindi remake of the 2013 film Drishyam, produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures in association with Panorama Studios and directed by Nishikant Kamat. Tabu was cast to play the role played by Asha Sharath from the original while Shriya Saran was cast as Devgn's wife.

Principal photography was scheduled to commence in February 2015. Devgn had been in Canada to shoot snow scenes for his film Shivaay, but light snow conditions had him reschedule that film and return to India to instead begin Drishyam. The first schedule began on 13 March 2015 in Goa and concluded on 1 April 2015. The second schedule began in April 2015. The first look of the film was unveiled on 29 May 2015.

On the announcement of the Hindi remake, producer Ekta Kapoor sent a legal notice to the Malayalam filmmakers. Ekta Kapoor acquired the movie rights of Japanese author Keigo Higashino's book, The Devotion of Suspect X, and her legal team claimed that Drishyam is a film adaptation of the novel, for which they purchased rights. However, the original Drishyam director and screenwriter Jeethu Joseph, denied that his film is an adaptation or copy of the Japanese novel and film. Commentator Nandini Ramnath noted how the denial of even slight inspiration by the Japanese novel is parallel to the inside movie storyline as "Jeethu Joseph's achievement lies in lifting an intelligent concept and localizing it so effectively that the links (to the Japanese novel) appear tenuous unless closely investigated. Drishyam is the perfect crime about a perfect crime, and its director's alibi is almost as airtight as the one Ishigami creates for Yasuko and Misato."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, with lyrics written by Gulzar. A song titled "Carbon Copy", which was sung by Ash King, was released on 7 July 2015. Zee Music Company acquired the music rights. The soundtrack album was released on 17 July 2015.

Reception

Drishyam received positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 18 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10.

Subhash .K. Jha gave four and a half out of five stars and stated "Nishikant Kamat's Drishyam is an outright winner. It is a remarkably resonant remake and a unique stand-alone experience." Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary of Gulf News gave it four and a half out of five stars and stated "There are no loose ends in the plot; every character, every situation is well planned and visualised to perfection. The background score is evocative though a song highlighting the trauma of the characters seemed eminently forgettable." Martin D'Souza of Glamsham gave it four out of five stars and stated "Drishyam is a spot-on crime thriller that has some 'heart-in-your-mouth' moments. It's set up in a made-up village called Pondolim in North Goa. What's satisfying about the entire screenplay is that what Vijay is doing on screen is what you will do for your family. Nothing less; after all, family is all that we have!" Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film four out of five stars, describing it as "A suspense drama with a nail-biting finish." Iyer criticized the casting choices for some of the Salgaonkar family, but praised Devgn and Tabu's performances, "Ajay, who is the prey here, shines in his role of the protective father ... Tabu [is] outstanding as his predator."

Key details