Drishyam (2015 film)

Plot

Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) is an orphan who dropped out of school after his 4th grade. Now he is a contented businessman running a cable TV service in Goa. He is married to Nandini (Shriya Saran), and have Anju, his adopted daughter (Ishita Dutta), a class twelve student, and Anu (Mrunal Jadhav) , a class six student. His only interest is watching films. He has gained fame in his area for helping people out with the help of methods he watched from films.

During a nature camp, a hidden cell phone camera records Anju removing her clothes and showering in the bathroom. The culprit, Sam (Rishabh Chaddha), is the son of Inspector General of Goa Police, Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Sam comes to blackmail Anju for sexual favors. Nandini pleads with Sam to leave their family alone, but Sam refuses to delete the video clip unless his sexual demand is fulfilled. In an attempt to break the offending cell phone, Anju takes a swing at Sam with a lead pipe, but she strikes him in the head instead, killing him immediately. They hide his body in a compost pit, which is witnessed by Anu. In the morning, when Vijay returns from work, Nandini tells Vijay about the incident and he devises a way to save his family from the police. He removes the broken cell phone and disposes of Sam's car, which is seen by the corrupt Sub-Inspector Laxmikant Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), who has a grudge against Vijay. The next day, Vijay takes his family out on a trip to Panjim, where they visit an Ashram, watch a movie, and eat at a restaurant. Meera, realizing that her son has gone missing, starts an investigation.

After a preliminary investigation, Meera calls Vijay and family for questioning. Having predicted that the police would come calling eventually, Vijay coaches his family on how to face the interrogations without raising suspicion. When questioned individually, the family sticks to their individual stories and the police are unable to find a crack in their alibis. Vijay produces bus tickets, movie tickets, lodging and restaurant bills as proof for the family's visit to Panaji. Meera questions the owners of the establishments they have been to and their statements prove Vijay's alibi. Meera realizes that on the day of the incident, Vijay 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.

Meera has the Salgaonkar family arrested, and Gaitonde uses brute force to beat the truth out of them though Vijay, Nandini and Anju resist. Meanwhile, Meera finds out about Sam and his video of Anju from Sam's friend, Alex. Eventually, Anu gives in and reveals that she has seen a body being buried in the compost pit. After digging the compost pit, the authorities find the carcass of a dog. Vijay reports to the media that Gaitonde physically abused both his daughters, causing an angry Gaitonde to attempt an attack on Vijay, but Vijay's in-laws retaliate, and a mob rises up to beat up Gaitonde. The Sub-inspector is suspended, Meera resigns from her post, and the entire investigating team of the Police Station is transferred out, with the case now requiring authorization from the court. When Nandini asks Vijay about what he did to the body, he refuses to tell her, saying that the information is safe within his heart. Meera and her husband Mahesh (Rajat Kapoor) meet Vijay at a seaside to ask forgiveness for their rude and violent behavior and to get a confirmation whether their son is alive or not. They also reveal that they would be leaving for London forever to live with their relative. Finally, Vijay tells them that someone came to his family as an "uninvited guest" causing chaos and that he has been "sent to a place from where he cannot return." Vijay also asks for forgiveness, and explains to them that he would go to any lengths to protect his family. Vijay signs a register at the newly constructed local police station. The new police inspector threatens Vijay that he shall find the body. As Vijay leaves with smile, a flashback reveals how he has hidden Sam's body under the floor of the new police station, while it was under construction.

Cast

Casting

In October 2014, it was announced that Saif Ali Khan would take the lead role and reprise the role played by Mohanlal in the 2013 Malayalam predecessor, but in November 2014, it was announced that Ajay Devgn would star in the Hindi remake of the 2013 film Drishyam, which will be produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures in association with Panorama Studios and directed by Nishikant Kamat. Plans then were to have Devgn reprise the role played by Mohanlal in the 2013 film. Later it was announced that Tabu will be playing the role of Meera Deshmukh a cop and Shriya Saran will play the wife of Ajay Devgn's character.

Filming

Principal photography for the film was slated to begin in February 2015. Ajit Andhare, the Chief operating officer of Viacom 18 Motion Pictures stated "Drishyam is an iconic film that leaves you spellbound and intrigued long after you have watched it. Its box office record in Malayalam & Telugu speaks for itself." Actor Ajay Devgan had been in Canada to shoot snow scenes for his upcoming film Shivaay, but light snow conditions had him reschedule that film and return to India to instead begin Drishyam. The First 20 Day Shooting schedule of the film began on 13 March 2015 in Goa and ended on 1 April 2015. The second schedule of the film began on 2nd week of April. The first look of the film was unveiled on 29 May 2015.

Controversies

On the announcement of the Hindi remake, film 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, clarified that his film is neither an adaptation nor a 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 localising 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."

Drishyam was declared tax free in Uttar Pradesh.

Soundtrack

The music for Drishyam is 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. The music rights for Drishyam are acquired by Zee Music Company.

Release

Drishyam was released on July 31, 2015 on 2,365 screens in India.

Critical reception

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 Devgan and Tabu's performances, "Ajay, who is the prey here, shines in his role of the protective father ... Tabu [is] outstanding as his predator." The Indian Express, however, gave the remake two and a half out of five stars and found fault with the chemistry between Devgan and Shriya Saran, who plays his character's wife. Indian Express described Devgan's performance as "stilted" and Tabu's performance as "off-and-on", commenting that she comes off as stiff at times.

Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times rated the film three and half out of five stars, describing it as "Stunning, gripping, edge-of-the-seat, shocking, engrossing". Vats praised the film for being successful as a suspense thriller.

Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film a rating of two and a half out of five stars, noting the pace of the film begins "far too snoozily". Sen described Tabu's character as Inspector General Nair as a "badass superstar", but overall felt "the film is clumsily written, with dialogue that sounds wooden. Contrarily, Bollywood Hungama gave the film four out of five stars and didn't notice the same pacing and script problems as Sen. "There is no single moment in the film suffers a lag ... As for the taut screenplay (Upendra Sidhye), it keeps on playing with your mind all the time. You know what happened but even then you are taken for a ride and you start believing in it."

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!"

Subhash K. Jha of gave it four and half out of five stars and stated "Nishikant Kamat's Drishyam is an outright winner . It is not just a remarkably resonant remake but also a unique stand-alone experience."

Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary of Gulf News gave it four and 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 that served to highlight the trauma of the characters seemed eminently forgettable."

The Free Press Journal (FPJ Bureau) Said, "The climax is just awesome and worth watching and waiting for. Performance-wise, Ajay is very good, as is Tabu. Shriya and the daughters have also acted brilliantly and do justice to their characters. The film's direction and screenplay is very good, while the music is okay. I would say, the movie is must watch."

Box office

By the end of its first week, Drishyam had grossed approximately ₹46.28 crore (US$7.2 million). The movie grossed ₹62.87 crore (US$9.8 million) in 13 days at domestic box office. By the end of its second week, the film had grossed about ₹64.17 crore (US$10 million). By the end of its third weekend, the film had grossed about ₹68.67 crore (US$11 million). By the end of its fifth week, the film had grossed about ₹75.71 crore (US$12 million). By the end of its sixth week, the film had grossed about ₹76.48 crore (US$12 million). It attained a total gross of ₹91.97 crore (US$14 million) (India) in the Indian box office by the end of its run. Internationally, the film collected ₹15.49 crore (US$2.4 million) in seven weeks and reached a combined worldwide total gross of ₹110.426 crore (US$17 million).