Drishyam: A complete gripper

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta, Prathamesh Parab
Rated: 8/10
First in Malayalam, then in Tamil and now in Hindi — and yet as gripping as ever. Drishyam is one of those slow suspense thrillers that come only once in a while and they are almost perfect to a fault.
The almost perfect in Ajay Devgn’s venture comes in the form of a slow start and the way the film takes off after the initial 20 minutes makes you wonder if the start had been great how much more you would have loved it.
Having said that, there are very few directors who can keep the tension up for more than an hour-and-a-half as the villain and hero (in this case heroine) set up a cat and mouse game in which — hold your breath — someone goes scot-free.
Very unBollywood where correction always happens in the end for what filmmakers feel is the need of the audience. Drishyam steers clear of such and many more prototypes and hence makes a mark in its very own special way.
It’s not just the tight script, the simplicity or the apt characterisations that this one floats happily on. The fact that it lives up to its South Indian pedigree in all these aspects is what gives it an edge.
Mohanlal did the original version (also called Drishyam but in Malayalam) with thumping success; then came Kamal Hassan in Tamil version (titled Papanasham) taking it a notch higher on pop charts. And now, Devgn’s dreamy eyes and undertoned histrionics carry the movie on a rocket as does the equally powerful presence of Tabu as the IG trying to locate her missing son.
Even the art director needs to be appreciated for the efforts that have been put in to keep the village feel afoot at all times, this time in a remote village/town of Goa.
Director Nishikant Kamat may have his job cut out and easy as all he had to do was follow the script and the two before that but to keep you hooked in these attention disorder times is quite a task which he has performed well.
Drishyam means visuals can be deceptive and the film lives up to its title in a surprisingly positive manner. 
Source: Sunday Pioneer, August 2, 2015

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