Drishyam 2 and the first part both made originally in Malayalam have tasted success in multiple languages and to the delight of the Hindi cine-goers in its Bollywood avatar it seems to have hit a thrilling home run.
The case has reopened after 7 years as the skeleton is out of the closet. The body of the deceased who was killed by the Salgaonkars seems to have been found which leads to a game of life and death chess, chase and conspiracy. At the centre of it all is Ajay Devgn as Vijay Salgaonkar the protective family man who has been hiding the dirty secret his family has been living with as if all is well yet internally they are under the shadow of constant fear.
Vijay Salgaonkar played by Ajay Devgn is joined by the cast of the first film where his family is played by Shriya Saran as his wife and Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav as his daughters.
Tabu reprises her role as the mother and cop who is still grieving and is resentful of the Salgaonkars who got away killing her wayward son, right under her nose.
The icing on the cake is Akshaye Khanna the IG Police who is after every move of Vijay Salgaonkar who is now a owner of a theatre and is in the process of making a film as a producer in the movie. There is a lot of layering and depth and twist in both their performances and characters is quite extraordinary.
Other supporting cast members also shine in their roles and Kamlesh Sawant, Saurabh Shukla and Rajat Kapoor in their character roles are a delight to watch.
The project this time around is helmed by Director Abhishek Pathak after the demise of Nishant Kamat the director of the Hindi remake of Drishyam 1. We miss him and celebrate him in the legacy he has left behind.
The original film by Jeethu Jose in Malayalam has been adapted in Hindi by Amil Kian Khan and Abhishek Pathak.
The film starts slow and keeps rebuilding and revisiting the first film. This makes the first half a little slow but it’s all worth it as it leads to a great climax and pay-off that interconnects everything quite beautifully.
With Drishyam 2, Bollywood has broken the trend of making unimaginative copies of South Indian hits like Vikram Vedha in Hindi and Mili made from Helen.Drishyam 2 is a well thought out adaptation and not just a mindless copy. It will grip you and keep you engaged and has an edge of the seat suspense drama that the audience has been looking forward to.
The screenplay is well done though in the first half it seems it is trying to establish a lot of things that seem to take a lot of time. The audience is almost left impatient at this time in its quest for the real edge of the seat drama to begin. But patience pays as they say and the second half more than delights in this area.
After having watched the full film you will be quite forgiving of the slow pace of the first half as it all makes sense in the end and in fact adds to the amazing engaging last 20-25 minutes.
A special mention for Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary’s cinematography which contributes to the mind and look of the character depicted by Ajay Devgn. Also the way he captures Goa’s landscape unlike the postcard image one is used to is also quite remarkable. The mindscape and filmscape he creates with his camera angles as well as the capturing of the visuals itself adds to the secrets in the closet that are playing hide and seek with all involved.
Also his way of capturing the untouched side of rural Goa is also quite an unravelling experience for the audience.
The background music score by Devi Prasad Devi is just what a suspense thriller like Drishyam needs and lends tonality to the different shades of the writing as well as characterisation and their portrayal.
The best part of the entire film of course is the absolutely brilliantly written and executed climax. It also brings home the otherwise uneducated but film loving Vijay Salgaonkar who has learnt more from cinema than the average man.
Drishyam 2 brings many lessons of its own including the one about making great adaptations and the pure joy of creating another great piece of cinema.
