Director: Jeethu Joseph

Cast: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Asha Sarath, Siddique

Language: Malayalam

Spoilers ahead

Sequels to a famous film can often go one of two ways. It is either just about riding on the wave of the first box office hit, or it is an actual and genuine continuation of the first film. Drishyam 2 surely and proudly falls in the second category. Drishyam 2 is a sequel to the much-acclaimed Drishyam that released in 2013 and subsequently spawned a lot of remakes across the country.

Drishyam follows the story of a seemingly commonplace Georgekutty (Mohanlal) and his family whose serene life is disturbed by threats of sexual assault by a police officer’s son. The death of the young man leads to a cat and mouse race between the police and Georgekutty where he masks his family’s crime as the perfect crime. Or did he? The second part follows from where the first part left off – six years after Georgekutty hiding the body under the very police station that was investigating him and his family. New evidence leads to the dogged pursuit of the police to uncover the missing body and implicate Georgekutty’s family. Suffice it to say that Georgekutty bests the police yet another time, and in a superbly nail-biting manner at that!

As I said, sequels with unnecessary twists and discontinuous plotlines are dime a dozen but Jeethu Joseph succeeds in giving  us one that we did not know we needed. With some phenomenal writing and classic references to the first part, he manages to largely recreate the magic . The USP of Drishyam 2 is the way the script weaves in a lot of nuanced details in a seemingly smooth manner. And what an amazing way to tie up a book deal, an unmade movie, and an unsolved murder of 6 years! What I also loved about Drishyam 2 is its unhurried way of reminding us of key plot points of the first film. There is no preface or a monologue, but scenes which casually refer to the events that unfolded in Drishyam.

The film kicks off giving us an almost happy picture of Georgekutty and his family. But behind the façade lies the perennial fear and changed attitudes towards life. Rani (Meena) is always scared of what is to come while Anju (Ansiba Hassan) is struck with PTSD. We get nail-biting twists without compromising on the emotional impact on the family. We get a dogged police force and hurt egos. And at the same time, we get an almost dispassionate Georgekutty going to any lengths to cover ALL his tracks. His family is out of jail, but they are still living a punished life… something that the stellar cast carries through in this instalment.

Mohanlal carries the film on his shoulders as the cunning yet calm theatre owner. Moments of him showing his weak side are a rarity, yet surely a masterclass, on how a complex character needs to be written. Meena suffers silently even as she yearns for the normalcy of before. With laudable plot shifts and a climax that is jaw-dropping, Drishyam 2 takes us on an extraordinary ride which tells us the story of an ordinary man who is ready to go to any lengths to protect his family.

Catch up on Drishyam 2 not just for its plot twists and fantastic acting, but also for its stark yet all-encompassing treatment of the term ‘punishment’.

Drishyam 2 is available on Amazon Prime.

Rating: 3/5