Sometimes the best thing to do is not over-complicate things. You see, what happened with the Malayalam “Drishyam 3” was that it aimed to do something different and ended up looking ridiculous. Director Jeethu Joseph, in his words, maintained that he intended to do something driven more by emotions

Sometimes the best thing to do is not over-complicate things. You see, what happened with the Malayalam “Drishyam 3” was that it aimed to do something different and ended up looking ridiculous. Director Jeethu Joseph, in his words, maintained that he intended to do something driven more by emotions

Sometimes the best thing to do is not over-complicate things. You see, what happened with the Malayalam “Drishyam 3” was that it aimed to do something different and ended up looking ridiculous. Director Jeethu Joseph, in his words, maintained that he intended to do something driven more by emotions

Sometimes the best thing to do is not over-complicate things. You see, what happened with the Malayalam “Drishyam 3” was that it aimed to do something different and ended up looking ridiculous. Director Jeethu Joseph, in his words, maintained that he intended to do something driven more by emotions than twists. Well, look how that turned out. I never thought I would one day say that the Hindi threequel of a franchise originally created in Malayalam is far better. So, how did the Hindi team ace it this time around?

Very simple. They went with a completely different story.

And since “storytelling” — pertaining to the various forms of truth: perceived, genuine, fabricated — is the unifying characteristic of the entire franchise, “Drishyam 3” leans further into this quality, especially when the protagonist happens to be a film buff himself. Multiple possibilities open up. Its primary strength is that it looks within the franchise to form its own ideas instead of going in a direction that would seem inconsistent with the first two films, which is the mistake that the Malayalam version made.

Several Mahabharata references are strewn in “Drishyam 3” and fittingly so, given how everything plays out. Gandeev, Chakravyuh, Arjuna... names dropped by a newly introduced character, Crime Branch SP Rajveer Singh Tomar (Jaideep Ahlawat). It's fitting that the actor himself mentions them because he is one of the strongest USPs of “Drishyam 3” — one of the mightiest weapons in its arsenal, so to speak. Tomar gets a buildup worthy of a mass hero. When he shows up in front of Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn), the latter is visibly nervous.

This principal adversary soon establishes himself as an intimidatingly crafty investigator; we know we are going to see the kind of fun that none of the other “Drishyam” films offered us. Tomar is to “Drishyam 3” what Hans Landa was to “Inglourious Basterds”. The film's best scene has him crashing an important family occasion, much to the annoyance of Vijay, and leading to an impressive battle of wits that sees both actors making the best use of their strengths.

But Ahlawat isn't the only formidable weapon in this film's arsenal. When Prakash Raj shows up as the Bengaluru-based Public Prosecutor Indrajith Shetty, joining Tomar in the mission to take down Vijay, “Drishyam 3” gets even more fun. The latter devises a plan to play dirty — to give Vijay a taste of his own medicine. You could tell the actors had a blast doing this. They seem so much at ease with each other. For the first time, you begin to doubt the chances of Vijay getting away. Oh, and before I forget, it's also a delight to see Kamlesh Sawant bring the house down multiple times as Laxmikant Gaitonde.

Unlike the Malayalam entries, the Hindi version doesn't waste time with family drama while also reminding us that all this is being done to protect someone's family. It gets straight to business. It knows what it's supposed to do: THRILL. One clue is established early on, but it's made to look so insignificant that we forget about it, until we are reminded that it is the film's biggest clue. It's a classic case of clever misdirection working in the film's favour.

“Drishyam 3” works because it's very much like its protagonist. It stays true to what the franchise is supposed to do. It does justice to its title. Since the Hindi version is free from the burden of waiting for another filmmaker to make his story first, it works like an alternate reality without looking out of place — in fact, it compels you to forget that the third Malayalam film exists. It borrows an idea from within the “Drishyam” franchise, illustrated by a scene where Meera Deshmukh (Tabu) meets Murad Ali (Saurabh Shukla) and asks how he would imagine the next set of events in the “Drishyam” narrative arc from Vijay's POV. The Malayalam version, in comparison, feels like it's someone else's POV. Writer-director Abhishek Pathak and his co-writers Aamil Keyan Khan and Parveez Shaikh may have looked at the Murad character as their alter ego and decided that the only way to end this franchise on a high note is to stick to the basics.

Film: Drishyam 3 (Hindi)
Director: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Jaideep Ahlawat, Prakash Raj, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor, Kamlesh Sawant
Rating: 4/5

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