Directed by : Jeethu Joseph

His mind has taken a pledge to protect his family. We cannot win.


Spoilers ahead.. 

Six years has passed since Georgekutty (Mohanlal) saved himself and his family from the incident that lead to the death of Varun - Prabhakar (Asha Sharath and Siddique) family's son. Georgekutty is owner of a movie theatre now and also has been working on script based on his own life for past some years. But things haven't changed yet, the police are still looking for clues that may lead to the body of Varun and Georgekutty's family living with the threat looming large over them. 

My first malayalam movie, had to watch due to the kind of reviews it was getting and for first 30 so mins I was wondering what made people love this, the proceedings were slow and not leading anywhere. But that was so intentional, if you stay patient then everything gets connected in many twists that follows, a good 2nd act and just brilliant final act specially the final 20 mins. 

I am guessing the 1st movie had same storyline as Hindi one as I had only seen the latter. Majority of the 1st act is about how Rani (Meena) lives with that night incident trauma so much still effecting her that she has to ask her neighbour Saritha (Anjali Nair) to come over for sleep everytime Georgekutty stays out. Also, the elder daughter Anju (Ansiba) suffers from seizures and the dreams about what happened to Varun. We also are introduced to Saritha's abusive husband, Sabu (Sumesh Chandran) and Jose (Ajith Koothattukulam) who happened to kill his brother in law on the same night when Georgekutty was busy burying Varun in the police station.

The moment the reality of some characters is told, is when the movie's pace picks up and never really stops after that. We are on edge of seat thinking, will the trap work and the body will be found, and if they do find the body, will Georgekutty survive or does his mind workout a new plan? All these questions get answered with some very good surprises. 

The writing team really did well, putting in 'luck' and 'copyright' angle so that you can't argue how the hell is this possible because Georgekutty himself thinks it might not work, he's just taking a chance and hoping God is with him. Also, what works is how he feels about Prabhakar's family's loss - guilt he can't let off. Personally I never felt anything over Varun's death so I was always on Georgekutty side in both films. 

Love the reaction on everyone's face when Jose tells where the body is. There's also two resembling scenes from earlier film, one is the interrogation where Georgekutty family is standing in a line and he again tries to narrate same story of '2nd and 3rd Aug'. And other is the final scene of his slow walk having survived yet again but will still live in the shadow of what if something might come up again. I am not sure if Drishyam3 is possible, maybe would be too much of extension of same case, but would be something if director Jeethu Joseph could pull it off again. 

My fav moment is the look on Georgekutty face when a body is discovered and without saying anything Rani learns about the truth. And then the entire guesthouse sequence where Prabhakar family and the Inspector are joined by producer of Georgekutty's film and he reveals the script while we keep cutting to the court scenes, 'I fear this is start of something' dialogue uttered as we slowly realise the sharp mind of Georgekutty at work again (might give a great competition to Professor from Money Hiest). 

Apart from the slow 1st act, which I won't really say is a problem, it very much plays a big part to how much we end up enjoying the rest movie. One issue I had was with overdose of reaction zoom in shots, I don't know if thats a regular thing in Malayalam industry, but its something I don't like. Also, I was thinking if Sabu and Saritha could had a moment or dialogue or something when Georgekutty walks past them in the end. They clearly despite betraying, had the kind of emotions neighbours of Georgekutty had for his family when they beat the constable in end of last film. 

Love the use of only track 'Ore Pakal', a soft slow song that beautifully highlights the kind of traumatic life Rani is living these 6 years, not able to come out of the past.

Everyone chips in with good performances, with ofcourse Mohanlal stealing the show, specially everytime he emotes with those eyes and stares. 

Doesn't quite get that 'What the.. Wow' moment when we learnt where Georgekutty buried the body in 1st film which was always going to be hard to beat, yet many times in this sequel we cheer up finding how he is going to avoid a jail term with his plans. Drishyam2 is a wonderful sequel, makes good use of new characters connecting to the previous film, plays out the trauma family lives and how Georgekutty is always calm and few steps ahead of everyone yet again.

Please tell me, hindi version of it, starring Ajay Devgan would be coming out by next year or so. It has huge hit and plenty of taalis in theatres (if corona is gone by then) written all over it. 


My Rating : 8.5/10