Drishyam 2 - A Worthy Sequel

Director: Jeethu Joseph

Cast: Mohan Lal, Meena, Esther Anil, Ansiba

Duration: 2hr 33min

Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video

Drishyam (2013) is one fantastic thriller that reminds me of a Hitchcock film where ordinary people go through extraordinary circumstances. It was so good in fact that it was remade in Tamil (starring Kamal Haasan!), Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and there are rumours of it being remade in Hollywood which is just great to hear.

(SPOILERS)

Now of course this would be compared to it's predecessor, so I'll say it right here. The original is better. But I want to explore this as it's own film.

The beginning scene where we see a killer witnessing Georgekutty (Mohan Lal) leaving the crime scene was brilliant as it uses a scene we are familiar with, and gives it a new perspective that changes the way we view the scene ,when and if we revisit the first film's climax.

There's always the set-up before the "inciting incident" in a screenplay and for Drishyam, the setting up of the characters and the locations are nearly perfectly paced. Then the "inciting incident" is when the rapist makes his presence known and the murder takes place putting the plot into motion.

Here in the sequel, the set-up is there where we see the family's current lifestyle with a couple fun callbacks to the first film, and other characters who'll eventually be helpful to the plot. The problem here is it's just too long. The plot truly begins in around an hour which becomes somewhat exhausting. 

I love that we see a lot of the villagers still talking about the murder by providing their own theories of what happened and who did the murder years later, and how the police sirens still haunts George's daughter Anju as she was the original murderer which has caused her to go through seizures. I love these moments because they solidify the seriousness and the impact of the first film. It really feels like a continuation. 

On seeing the characters dealing with the traumatic experiences of it's predecessor, it establishes their character and emotion better making them feel more three-dimensional. 

The character interactions are great and that works because of the dialogue writing and also, the performances. Speaking of the performances, Mohan Lal is an absolute god in this film. He once again proves why he's one of the best by really maintaining this strong willed persona of a man kept within who's willing to go to great lengths for his family. That is his character. He values the life of his daughters and wife more than he does his own and that is shown through his actions.

Even Meena, Esther and Ansiba do a great job in portraying the family members who have their own personal internal struggles.

Here the story continues as the cops are still engaging with the case. There's shocking revelations and a lot of betrayal going on which makes sense while writing a crime drama. We're rooting for the main family because we know that they're good people at heart that had unfortunately witnessed a tragedy. But the mother finding her son's killer makes sense emotionally as well so it doesn't provide us a black and white look at the situation.

The cinematography isn't anything as interesting to look at. Some more dynamic use of lighting could've probably made the film more beautiful to look at, but that's just personal taste. 

The film does feel a little too long. But I really like the fact that George was writing a screenplay with a co-writer in order to basically give him information to successfully execute his plan while also exploring the character's love for cinema. (which is something I personally relate to)

Him writing a story that is similar to the real-life events that had taken place was a nice touch because it drew parallels to what was currently happening in the film as well as we wonder how the actual film will conclude for as to it's a suspense thriller which makes the climax unpredictable.

The final "reveal" was well done as :-

1. It shocks you for sure, but is serviceable to the narrative.

2. It solidifies George's character as a man who loves his family

In the end of the first Drishyam film, he wins and we cheer because we root for him. But the real weight of committing the crime is explored in the sequel. He doesn't completely get away with the murder. 

The final scene where we understand that Geetha (cop mother of the victim) accepts reality and decides to let go of this drama which will never truly end as they know George is unstoppable, and that George constantly dealing with the traumatic experiences of this murder becoming his punishment, so to speak, was brilliant as it leaves us with this bitter-sweet conclusion as it makes the pain of the incident feel unending yet the people capable of moving on. 

The hero wins but loses his soul.

The climax has a near perfect conclusion, but leaves room for a Drishyam 3 which is interesting.

The 2 films of the Drishyam franchise are equally the two halves of the man's exploration of guilt and conscience that are the philosophical themes of this film.

Drishyam 2 isn't a masterpiece. But it's a sequel that deserved to be told, and that's rare for Indian Cinema.

Thank You for Reading.

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